In May of 1995 a lady friend and I signed up to go on a trip to Washington, D.C., with a group from the Osher Marin JCC. The trip was sponsored by the Close Up organization in Washington and included a special day at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

There were 13 women in the group and two men. One man was traveling with his wife. The other lone male was Edward Simon, who was originally from San Francisco but had moved to Marin County.

It was a wonderful trip, except we kept running into rain showers and getting soaked. On one occasion, Ed had to run up to his room at our hotel and missed the bus going to the Capitol. He finally grabbed a taxi and caught up with our group. Everyone was friendly and Ed kept taking my picture.

On the return trip, my lady friend did not return with our group. Instead, Ed and I were seated next to each other on the plane returning from Washington. We had a chance to talk and play gin rummy. I kept beating him every game. It was then that we discovered that we only lived a few blocks from each other. We had to travel 3,000 miles to meet!

Eddie and I have been together ever since, and now live in a lovely home in Peacock Gap.