That’s our story – two for one!
B”H, with Chasdei Hashem and the vessel of JWed (it will always be JWed to us) Shmuel and I connected and married 12 years ago. A man and a woman, their three kids – mine -Joseph (13), and his Mendel (11) and Shayna (9), relocation – me and Joe from New Jersey to Cleveland, various hashkafas – Modern Orthodox, Yeshivish and Lubavitch - and somehow, we made it all work.
It took some time but slowly we went from mine and his to ours. Joseph adapted well from the start. He loved his new school and made friends easily. It did take this NY/NJ girl a while to adjust to Cleveland – think Green Acres - Eva Gabor, but in case there were any doubts that Shmuel and I were bashert, HaShem sent us some very definite signs. One day I was showing Shmuel my high school yearbook. While looking at a classmate’s page Shmuel said “there’s a picture of my father!” Unbeknownst to us I had gone to school with Danny, Shmuel’s stepbrother, and on his page there was a picture of his family which included Shmuel’s father. How crazy is that?! Shortly afterwards I was going through my elementary school year book and on the autograph page directly above my signature a classmate of mine signed her name - Pessie Hershkowitz . Pessie wrote it in a way that made it look like it was my last name – which is now my last name! Wait - there’s more! We purchased a home and the previous owners of the home were named Steve (Shmuel’s English name) and Sandy – our names! There are other examples but I think you get the message; Shmuel and I are meant to be.
Now to the “two for one” part of our story.
As I said Joseph was 13 years old and going into the 8th grade when we relocated. At his junior high school graduation Shmuel and I were having a little fun pointing to different girls in his class and trying to guess who he would end up with. I pointed to the short, zaftig girl with the dark hair. I am a Jewish mother and of course I assumed he would end up with someone who resembled me 😊 . Shmuel pointed to a tall, thin girl with dirty blond hair. I said “no way.” Well, as I am sure you have guessed, they became high school sweethearts and the rest as they say is history. On Feb. 17th, 2016 Joseph and Isabella (the tall dirty blond) were married. If Shmuel and I had not connected via JWed then their connection would not have been. Two for the price of one!
We are eternally grateful to have met and to have become a family. We are a great couple – if we do say so ourselves – and we do! So, there is our story.
We now humbly request to be chosen as an entry into your contest. You see, our daughter Shayna, who is now 22 and living in Jerusalem just became engaged and b’ezrat Hashem the wedding will be in Israel! Thank you JWed and we hope to hear from you!