When Héber and I got engaged in May 2023, everyone we knew asked me to tell the story of how he proposed. And I loved telling it. It never got old for me, reliving the whirlwind of emotions on that most exciting and joyful day.
Over the course of our engagement, though, I had no idea I would continue repeating the story dozens of times, sounding to myself like a broken record in the telling — sometimes in public, with perfect strangers listening in — even though people seemed eager to hear me recount the most romantic moment of my life.
But that’s only the second most-requested story I tell about our relationship. “How did you two meet?” has remained No. 1 on my top-stories chart for the nearly five years we’ve been a couple.
I got this question once at a young adult Jewish community event. A friend sitting with Héber, who was a few tables away and out of earshot, turned to him and said, “I can tell from the smile on Emma’s face right now that she’s telling the story of how you two met.” I smile now, because the story is all true, it happened to me, and I still want to pinch myself to be sure it isn’t all a dream.
As much as I like telling our story, I feel the same enthusiasm for hearing how other couples ended up together. There’s a sense of luck and randomness, fate or destiny, that makes these stories irresistible. And when it’s a Jewish love story, all the better.
Last year, in the throes of planning our wedding, I read Janet Silver Ghent’s memoir, “Love Atop a Keyboard,” and chuckled at the endearing, humorous and serendipitous way she met her husband through the Jewish Bulletin (forerunner of J.). I had never heard of the paper’s personal ads section, called “Such a Match!” until I read Janet’s story about writing her own ad in January 1999 that led her to Allen, her beshert.
Later, when I typed “Such a Match!” into the search bar of the J. archives, I discovered a treasure trove of past ads, and was curious to find out who else had found their “match” this way.
That’s how the idea for J.’s first original podcast, “Such a Match!” came to be. I soon got to work, looking for couples to interview. Through lots of archival research and word-of-mouth, I discovered there were many couples who met through the original “Such a Match!” and are still happily married. Now, some 30 years later, they’re sharing their love stories with me.
The first episode of “Such a Match!” will debut Tuesday, a month before Héber and I marry under the chuppah. I’m planning to release a bonus podcast episode telling the story of how we met. Until then, no spoilers!