#299 Susanne Goldstone (New York, NY)& Evan Rosenhouse (New York, NY) Success Story Susan Goldstone, 28, can’t hold off from showering praise on her shadchan, Kim. Friends from their days in Stern College for Women, without “Happy Kim’s” encouragement, Susan says she would never have gone out with Evan, 26. “I think she is more genuinely happy about us being together than we are” Susan said. “She was so happy that she was able to do this mitzvah for us. She even sent us an engagement present!” Though Susan is from Orange County, California, and Evan is from Dallas, Texas, the two met for the first time in Washington Heights, New York, over coffee. Neither really knew when to end the date, and Evan ended up missing a Dallas Cowboys game – a big deal for him! Evan was not everything Susan had thought she needed in a husband. He was younger than she, which she thought would bother her. As it turned out, Susan herself had family members who were older than their husbands, and Susan got used to the idea. Susan had always thought she needed to marry someone athletic, which Evan was not. Susan was able to acclimate to the idea that she could be the one to coach her kids little league games! After dating for seven months, Evan asked Susan to go to an off-Broadway play with him. She knew something weird was going on, because the couple tended to be very laid back about planning activities. She had also gone to meet his parents only a few weeks earlier. After the show – I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change - Susan went to the restroom, and when she came out Evan was prepared with a whole speech about how “perfect” Susan was - no changes needed! While Susan had tried other dating websites, she really just used the other sites for reference purposes. Susan really liked SYAS because not only was she meeting people online, but she was able to meet people face to face as well by going on SYAS shabbatons. “People got to know the real me rather than a profile” she commented. “The good thing about online dating – at least in the frum world – is that you know what you’re getting into” Susan said. “When I would talk to my non-Jewish friends about it, they would ask me how I could go out with random guys. I tell them that it’s not really a blind date. You really go in knowing so much about the person and so much about where they are coming from” she explained. Susan and Evan will B”H be getting married in December 2008.