We used to joke that my dad and my stepmom owed me shadchanus for their marriage of close to 25 years. After being introduced through a mutual friend in the 1990s, my dad and stepmom, Sara Leah, corresponded over the phone and via fax. (Remember those days?) After a few months, they met in a pizza shop in Boro Park. For some reason, he brought us children along with him. Perhaps it was because he didn’t know better, or maybe it was because he wanted her to view him as a package deal with the kids. 

At first she thought he was crazy for bringing his kids on a date intended for two, but then I – being a lactose-intolerant Jewish kid – got a stomachache, and we went to her home to use the restroom. Sara Leah was so impressed with how my father took care of me that she decided to give him another shot, and that’s when their life as a couple began.