After a 37-year delay, Cheryl Lauer is finally fulfilling her husband’s request to be his prom date.

“I will be escorting my, now, husband of 17 years to his first prom. The amazing thing about this is that it should have happened in 1985, but I didn’t realize that until years later,” Lauer said.

That the belated prom happened at Nazareth Hall on July 29. Prom Through the Ages is an adult-only prom night, where many of the dancers sport retro outfits, like powder blue leisure suits or dresses with big shoulder pads.

That’s not for Brent and Cheryl Lauer. They dressed in modern formal wear, with her in a rich purple dress and his suit with matching purple accents.

It all started with a crank call.

Brent was well aware of her.

“He was a senior and I was a freshman. In band class he played trombone and I played French horn, and we never talked. One night, when I was at my mom’s in Toledo, he called me to ask me out,” Cheryl said.

Hearing a party going on in the background, she thought the call was a joke.

“I thought he was crank calling me. Senior boys didn’t ask a freshman girl like me out and I heard a party going on behind him. He tried everything to convince me he really liked me and thought I was cute,” Cheryl said. “He never talked to me before, or after, in band class. … I thought he was just trying to make a fool out of me.”

The call made an impression on her.

“It’s funny. I remember the conversation so well. I remember the house I was at. Everything,” Cheryl said.

He didn’t try talking to her again.

“He was a shy guy,” Cheryl said.

“I never dealt with girls. When you are the big kid, girls don’t give you too much notice,” Brent said.

Both of them married, but 17 years later they rediscovered each other on Match.com.

“He contacted me. No profile picture, or anything,” Cheryl said.

Brent had just started using the online dating website, didn’t have a profile set up and her photo was one of the first ones he saw. He messaged Cheryl, signing it only as Brent.

They both went to Rossford High School, so she knew he could be the guy from years before.

Brent continued to say that the call had been legitimate.

“It dawned on me. He called me (at) my mom’s house. I never questioned it. How did he get my phone number to call?” Cheryl said.

The number came from her brother, who was a friend and at the party that night.

She feels that God spoke to her and put them together. The couple have been together since.

“I instantly fell in love with him. He’s got such a beautiful heart and kindness. He’s generous and brave,” Cheryl said.

They were married in 2004.

Brent is a retired firefighter, from Findlay. She is a parts supplier for an elevator company.

Her two children and his one are great friends. It looks like they will be grandparents soon.

Today, they are clearly inseparable. Avid movie watchers, you might see them at a Halloween party dressed as Princess Buttercup and the Dread Pirate Roberts, from “The Princess Bride.”

“So I’m taking him to prom, 37 years later,” Cheryl said. “It’s cool for us, because we should have went to prom together. If I had thought he was serious we would have gone. That’s why I’m trying to make it as special as I can.”

They have a whole group of lifelong friends that went together.

Cheryl scheduled a limo ride and a photographer, with the goal of fulfilling the traditional Rossford High School photo of prom couples on the white limestone senior steps, framed by the red brick. She plans getting it antiqued, for a special look.

“I think our paths weren’t meant to cross until later,” Cheryl said. “I love my life now and I love him.”

“We’ve been making up for lost time,” Brent said.