Valentine’s Day is widely known as a time of love and affection. For some, Valentine’s Day is a chance to cherish and remember their love stories. At Wayland High School, one of the most beloved and well-known love stories lies between two history teachers: Fred and Erin Lehmann. Although the Lehmanns seem to be WHS’ quintessential married couple, some students may be unaware of how the pair ended up together.

The couple first met in Rochester, New York, where E. Lehmann had been living and where F. Lehmann had just moved to.

“My good friend Lisa was dating this guy, Brendan, who played at a men’s softball league,” E. Lehmann said. “Fred joined the softball league to meet people. So, my friend Lisa was at one of these games, [and] met this new guy, [who was F. Lehmann], and then she arranged for [F. Lehmann and me] to be at a party that she was throwing, but did not tell either of us that she was setting us up. ”

Although this setup might have seemed flawless, it was arguably quite the opposite. At first, the two found each other’s personalities to be unappealing, and there was no love at first sight for the pair.

“When we first met, we didn’t like each other,” E. Lehmann said. “I was already dating someone and my friend knew it, but she thought I could do better. When I met Fred that first night, I just remember [that] I wasn’t looking for anything and we just didn’t really hit it off. He thought I was really hyper and I thought he was really dull.”

However, throughout the night, their friends would funnel F. and E. Lehmann together, and the pair would find themselves continuously conversing with each other. A year later, they coincidentally ran into each other again.

“I was watching my roommate [run a 10K road race],” E. Lehmann said. “I went over to the bagel tent with her when [the race] was over and [F. Lehmann] was there.”

This time, however, their meeting was supported by more positive emotions towards one another, since they remembered each other from the party the year before. From this point forward, they began spending more time with one another.

“We would just get together and rollerblade once a week for about seven months,” E. Lehmann said. “It was the 90s, [so] rollerblading was big.”

Although the pair’s relationship seemed to be progressing smoothly, some love stories have their ups and downs. As their relationship progressed, F. and E. Lehmann would end up going through a period of break-ups.

“Fred was always awesome the whole way through [our relationship],” E. Lehmann said. “[But], we broke up several times, and that was my fault. I was very fearful of commitment for reasons that I honestly didn’t even understand at that point. Every time our relationship would progress to the next level, I would freak out and we would break up. We broke up three major times. The last big breakup was [when F. Lehmann] asked me to move in with him, and I freaked out.”

After what the two thought was their final breakup, F. Lehmann moved back to Massachusetts, his home before living in Rochester, New York. For E. Lehmann, this break-up was impactful and eye-opening.

“When he was moving, I don’t know if I [had] ever cried that hard [in] my entire life,” E. Lehmann said. “I figured out [that] I had just lost the best thing I ever had, and I was devastated. I lost 15 pounds because I was just so sad. [F. Lehmann and I] didn’t talk for like a year and we both dated [other people].”

When F. Lehmann returned to Rochester for a friend’s wedding a year later, he reached out to E. Lehmann, asking if he could stop by and say hello.

“I was all excited, because I [thought] that maybe he wanted to get back together,” E. Lehmann said. “We went for a walk, and on the walk, I realized that he wasn’t there to get back together. He was really just there to say hello. It was like a gut punch.”

E. Lehmann returned to her apartment crying to her best friend Julie, and Julie urged E. Lehmann to reveal her true feelings for F. Lehmann in a letter.

“I wrote [F. Lehmann] this really long letter,” E. Lehmann said. “I basically [realized that] everything was my fault. At the end of the letter, I [told F. Lehmann] if you’re not interested in trying to make this work, I totally understand. But please don’t contact me again, because I need to get over you. Nevertheless, I wanted [him] to know that I still loved [him]. I remember when I mailed the letter, I started crying because I thought, ‘I’m never going to talk to him again.’”

Two or three days later, E. Lehmann’s phone rang, and it was F. Lehmann calling her to say, ‘I still love you, too.’