Andy and I met for the first time at a USY convention through a friend, and even though I thought he was funny and cool, we remained just friends for a number of years. I had been a camper at Poconos for 4 summers before returning the summer of 2006 for shachal, and Andy, who had never been a camper, had decided to start working at camp in 2005. It’s a good thing we both kept coming back every summer, because in the summer of 2007, Andy and I wound up on the same tzevet at camp–I was a JC and Andy was a first-year senior counselor. We worked together to plan peulot and t’fillot, and the more time we spent with each other, the more we realized we liked each other as more than just friends. We started dating the Monday night of intersession. We knew that we had something special, and decided to try to make it last, even though I would be in Delaware for school, and Andy would be in Philadelphia.

After 4 years of maintaining a “mid-distance” relationship, we moved to Manhattan, where Andy entered JTS Rabbinical School and I began pursuing my MSW at Hunter College. On the second night of Hanukkah in 2011, Andy planned a peulat-erev style proposal that involved a scavenger hunt around the Goldsmith dormitory–and I said yes! In November 2012, Andy and I celebrated our marriage in true camp style with pictures of camp on our invitation and benscher, and Israeli dancing during the reception. Our witnesses were Reena Saks and Joshua Skolnick, who were also on tzevet with us when we got engaged. Our Ketuba was designed by another close camp friend, Matthew Dorsch, who incorporated images of camp into the design. Andy and I are so grateful to camp for bringing us together!