‘Impossible / It's Possible' Became Their Anthem

New York Times

21-02-2025

'Impossible, impossible,' were the two words Emily Ruth Giske suddenly sang to Jennifer Pollack Percival over the phone in February 2022.
'I was so happy I broke into song,' said Ms. Giske, who was ecstatic when Dr. Percival then joined in with the rest of the lyrics to that Rodgers and Hammerstein song 'Impossible / It's Possible' from 'Cinderella.' (Dr. Percival soon learned Ms. Giske had a hearty repertoire of show tunes, '70s hits and made-up songs.)
The two had met five weeks earlier on Match.com after Ms. Giske, 64, switched her app's location from New York, where she lived, to Aventura, Fla., while on vacation with her now 7-year-old child.
'Emily popped up,' said Dr. Percival, 45, who lives in Boca Raton, after she specifically did a search for a woman with a master's degree who was also Jewish.
Until then, although each dated casually, they had pretty much given up on long-term love — Dr. Percival's previous two marriages ended in divorce, as did Ms. Giske's previous one.
'We've been very successful in life and less successful in love,' said Dr. Percival, who, like Ms. Giske, focused on being the 'best mom' she could be and a career 'to make the world a better place.'
Dr. Percival, who has two children, ages 22 and 17, and a tabby cat, is the director of Florida Atlantic University's Center for Autism & Related Disabilities in Boca Raton. She received a master's in counselor education and a doctorate in educational leadership and research methodology from the university. She grew up in Chicago and graduated with a bachelor's in psychology from Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.
Ms. Giske, who grew up in Bayside, Queens, graduated with a bachelor's in public policy from George Washington University, and a master's in urban affairs and policy analysis from the New School. She is a managing partner at Bolton-St. Johns, a government relations and public affairs consulting firm. As a lead lobbyist for L.G.B.T.Q. rights coalitions, she was instrumental in the passage of New York's Marriage Equality Act in 2011.
To prove they were who they said, they 'publication verified' each other, as Dr. Percival put it. She sent Ms. Giske a review of one of her three books on autism. Ms Giske sent her a link to a New York Times article from a week before that had quoted her and described her as a 'prominent lobbyist.'
'I had learned it's not good to drag these things out,' said Ms. Giske of the exchange, and within 20 minutes set up a lunch date at Latitudes, a restaurant in Highland Beach, Fla.
Two days later, when Ms. Giske arrived at their table overlooking the crystal blue ocean, Dr. Percival could not hold back.
'You really transformed yourself,' Dr. Percival said.
She was taken by changes in Ms. Giske's look and style from online photos, including dropping 130 pounds intentionally during Covid.
[Click here to binge read this week's featured couples.]
'She and I really got each other,' Ms. Giske said, and neither noticed their 20-year age difference.
Ms. Giske asked her on a second date before the first one ended. Two days later, after lunch at Sadelle's restaurant at the Boca Raton hotel, they parted, jubilantly, with a kiss.
'I went 'whoo,' and she saw me skip away,' said Ms. Giske, who stayed another week, after Dr. Percival told her she had time to see her again.
They saw each other a half dozen times during Ms. Giske's stay, and then began dating long distance.
'You know we're a couple,' Dr. Percival told Ms. Giske after six weeks.
That May, Dr. Percival flew to New York for Memorial Day weekend, and went from one gathering to another, meeting more than 100 of Ms. Giske's friends and family members.
'One thing about Jennifer she is fearless,' said Ms. Giske, who lives in East Hampton, N.Y., with an apartment in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.
In June and July, they took trips to Provincetown, Mass., Dublin, Amsterdam, London, Montreal and Chicago. Most of all, they love Disney parks or cruises, where their children also got a chance to spend time together.
'We love to be in the magical Disney bubble,' Dr. Percival said.
This past New Year's Eve, Ms. Giske proposed during a cruise on the Disney Treasure as they had brunch at Palo, a restaurant with 360-degree views of the ocean.
On Feb. 7, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, a senior rabbi emerita at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in Manhattan, officiated at an intimate ceremony at the Pierre Hotel, where Dr. Percival's maternal grandparents were married in 1946.
The couple stood under a huppah in a hotel suite, where they stepped on a glass together, before a videographer, photographer and witness.
During her vows Ms. Giske, true to form, broke into song, singing 'Ten Minutes Ago,' from 'Cinderella' a cappella under the huppah. After they danced for a moment, she happily ended with: 'I have found you, you're my angel.'