Love Story: She said yes to a blind date, then to the Holy Land

Marcia Friedman (nee Hauben) of West Babylon remembers the blind date that led her to meet her husband, Mel.

In September 1970, I was 23 and living in Forest Hills, Queens, with my parents when neighbors suggested that I meet a man they knew who was 26 and lived in Floral Park, Queens. These neighbors knew his parents and thought we’d be a good match.

I wasn’t a big fan of blind dates, but I agreed to a date with Mel after he called me from a phone booth in a crowded subway station, introduced himself and asked me to dinner and a movie over the roar of trains.

Mel drove to my parents' apartment house to pick me up, and when I opened the door to their apartment, there he was, all dressed in black, looking like Johnny Cash. The date went well, although at first I thought that Mel could have been more talkative.

As we dated more and got to know each other, Mel became more talkative. We found that we had a lot in common, like our interest in restaurants, movies and books. We also had Judaism in common, and our religion was very important to us both.

After five months of dating, on Feb. 5, 1971, Mel proposed to me after a date by asking, "Do you want to go to the Holy Land on our honeymoon?"

We got married on Nov. 21, 1971, at the Garden Jewish Center in Flushing, Queens, on a beautiful, sunny day.

Our wedding was on a Sunday, the same day there was a football game in Pittsburgh between the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers. During the reception, we kept announcing the football score, and our guests enjoyed these updates, even though the final score was the Giants 13, Steelers 17.

Afterward, we spent two weeks in Israel on our honeymoon.

After getting married, we had our first apartment in Rego Park. We later moved to a house in North Bellmore, where we lived for 30 years before moving to West Babylon.

We’re both retired now. I worked as an administrative assistant for 18 years at the Merrick Jewish Centre, and Mel worked in advertising in Plainview.

Mel and I raised three wonderful children, a daughter, Aileen, and our sons, Marc and Todd. We adore our seven grandchildren and love spending time with them. We also enjoy going to movies, playing Scrabble, spending time at the beach and local parks, and getting together with friends.

On Nov. 5, 2021, I celebrated my 75th birthday. The following day, on Nov. 6, our children surprised us with a combined birthday party for me and 50th anniversary party for both of us. They had invited all of our family and closest friends to McQuade’s Neighborhood Grill in Lynbrook, and had decorated the room with photos of my childhood and from our married life through the years. It was beautiful.

Mel is my best friend, and we’ve come through our share of ups and downs, but we’ve always communicated with each other and knew we could get through anything together. As Mel always says, laughter is the best medicine.

— With Laura Mann