Joni and I met through my younger brother Jeff. Jeff and Joni were both members of of Beth El Hebrew Congregation's Young Professionals' Kesher. I was living in Abingdon, Virginia at the time, working for the United Mine Workers of America. Joni was working for the U.S. State Department and had recently been stationed in Washington.

One weekend I had to come to Washington, D.C. on business. Jeff decided to have a Shabbat dinner. Joni was one of the guests.  The next day, Joni, Jeff and I went for lunch at a Greek restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia and afterwards saw the movie Contact.

The next week-end I had to be in Washington again so I called Jeff and asked for Joni's phone number.  Jeff asked Joni if it was okay, and Joni thought, "well, the worst that could happen is that I get a dinner out if it."  (Boy, she couldn't have been more wrong.)