'Throwback Thursday' Pic Captures Now-Married Couple in Preschool Parade

Jason and Jessica Roth crossed paths in preschool, fell in love in college

ByABC News
August 18, 2014, 2:33 PM

— -- The story of a now-viral Halloween photo started nearly a decade ago when a Florida man, Jason Roth, called his then-girlfriend, Jessica, with an unlikely question.

“I said, ‘Were you by chance ever a genie?,’” Jason Roth told ABC News. “And she said, ‘Oh my gosh, I was.’”

“I said, ‘Well I think you’re two feet away from me in this picture I have,’” Roth recalled.

The picture Roth had in his possession was a Halloween parade photo taken at a preschool run by his aunt in Lakeland, Florida. Roth grew up in Miami but spent around six months living with his aunt in the small town about four hours north of Miami as a young child.

The photo shows Jason Roth in a Superman outfit with Jessica just a few steps off to his side dressed as a genie.

"It’s not like she’s this kid in the back. She’s right there, two feet to my right," Roth said.

The preschool run by Roth's aunt just happened to be the same preschool that his now-wife, Jessica Roth, also attended as a child. The Jacksonville couple had no idea they had known each other as kids until 2002 when they began dating during their senior years at Florida State University.

“At my graduation dinner, we were doing the six-degrees-of-separation game,” Roth said. “My aunt was asking Jessica, 'Where’d you go to high school, middle school and so on and then realized it was the same preschool.”

“Jessica said, ‘Well there was Miss Sandy, Miss Cindy, Miss Sue, oh my gosh, Miss Sue,’” said Roth, whose aunt’s name is Sue.

The Roths, both 35, went on to marry and have three children of their own, who are now preschool age themselves and older.

PHOTO: Jason and Jessica Roth discovered through a photo that they knew each other as preschoolers.
Jason and Jessica Roth discovered through a photo that they knew each other as preschoolers.

The couple's story was one they only “loved telling friends at dinner,” according to Roth, but it went viral after Roth tweeted it to a Huffington Post reporter after seeing a tweet from the site last week about a similar star-crossed experience.

“I did a ‘Throwback Thursday’ post a couple of months ago on my Facebook and Instagram and people loved it,” Roth said. “I tweeted the Huffington Post reporter and said we have a better one and linked her to my Facebook page.”

Now that the Roths’ story has proven to be a hit, Roth says he is happy it is bringing smiles to people’s faces.

"It’s a big world but in a lot of ways it’s a small world too,” he said. “So when this type of thing happens it brings out a lot of great stories about people crossing each other’s orbits and finding each other and these great love stories.”

“I’m glad that my 15 minutes of fame is a great love story,” Roth added. “I love my wife a lot and couldn’t ask for a better partner in life.”