“What an amazing photographer!” exclaimed her aunt’s friend. “My daughter’s vort is next Sunday,” she said. “Would your niece be willing to do the photography? We’d pay her, of course.”
The deal was struck and our daughter had her first official paying “gig.” She took hundreds of beautiful photos, and the chassan, kallah and their respective families were overjoyed with the results. In fact, the kallah’s friend asked the young photographer to take pictures at her vort the following week, and another gig was promptly arranged. But that was far from all that was “set up.”
A female guest at the first vort was also fascinated by the photographer – and not only by the quality of her work. After literally bumping into her as our daughter was snapping photos at the simcha, she purposefully approached the aunt and spontaneously said that she thought she had the perfect shidduch for her niece.
Although she had never laid eyes on our daughter before that fateful Sunday and, as we later learned, had never technically met the prospective young man, the Ultimate Shadchan from above had indeed worked His magic k’heref ayin (in the blink of an eye). True to her word, as soon as she received the go-ahead from both parties, the guest at the vort set up the young couple on a blind date. Voila!
Miraculously, and literally from the first date, it was undeniably a match made in heaven. The two of them turned out to be a male and female version of the same person, and both immediately felt an intense connection of souls.
Our daughter, confused and somewhat despondent just weeks earlier, phoned us and enthused, “He’s absolutely everything I want! My entire list: check, check, check!”
He was, Baruch Hashem, everything we wanted for her too: fine, frum, caring, sensitive and a genuine mensch. Suddenly, it was crystal clear how min hashamayim it was that her work hours had been dramatically cut. As much as she could have benefited from the additional income, at this stage the found time was infinitely more valuable. She desperately needed every spare moment to get to know the young man of her dreams and plan their engagement, wedding and glorious future.
B’Chasdei Hashem, it all turned out as “picture perfect” as the magnificent photos that serendipitously brought them together in the first place. B’ezras Hashem, may it continue to be so – ad me’ah v’esrim and beyond.
