Cherry Hill resident Sherri Pfeffer talks about meeting her sweetheart, Steve Cohen.
Editor’s Note: The following Sweetheart Story was submitted to The Sun by Cherry Hill resident Sherri Pfeffer.
I’ve been a resident of Cherry Hill since 1987 and have lived here all this time not too happily. Oh the town is great, don’t change anything, but as far as my love life was concerned, well…
Anyway, my sweetheart, Steve, was recently widowed and left the Cherry Hill area to go back to his hometown roots of Northeast Philadelphia. He happened upon the same online service I did and our paths crossed. We have both come from nearly the same neighborhood I grew up at in the Northeast, my cousins knew him since high school, we’ve practically shopped at the same grocery stores here in Cherry Hill and lived within a mile or so of each other in Cherry Hill, not knowing each other.
Our paths crossed just a few months ago on that online service and our first date was at Ponzio’s. What should have been a coffee or a small meal turned into a near seven hour date, between our eventual dinner at Ponzio’s and then coffee at the Short Hills Starbucks and we have been together since. I will never forget our first date over at Ponzio’s…one of the waitresses there overheard our conversation (since my sweetheart was talking so loudly — he had a relative hard of hearing and got used to talking that way) and thought cause he was so loud, I should ‘cut and run’ while he was in the bathroom! Meanwhile, another couple sitting behind us heard our entire conversation and applauded our frankness and honesty with each other and wished us the best of luck! Frankly, we think we should return to Ponzio’s and rehash our entire first date with the hopes of meeting that waitress again to buy her a dinner there. I think a chicken pot pie is in order.
We’re about to head out to a romantic weekend getaway at Ocean Pines, Maryland which we hope will give us time away from our hectic busy schedules and just ‘be’ with each other. I can’t wait for him to see the Assateague ponies for the first time. We think what makes us stand out from other couples is our ability to hear a piece of music and just beat the percussion out on anything standing, even ourselves! We both grew up hearing the same classic rock and love the same groups.
Our lesson for fellow romancers? Don’t give up on love, no matter what. You never know what the future might bring you, despite all your life’s hardships or even pain. We consider ourselves Bashert. Here’s a poem I wrote for him:
Bashert
Bashert he said, it is meant to be
His eyes with love, as deep at the sea
I know not of G-d or what it could mean
But I do know that life isn’t as seemed
Is it timing or fate that makes one late?
Is it luck or fail that changes one’s sail?
It is a whisper in your mind, a call
To a mere moment when not, can be all
How is it that in a flash you do know
The face of your dearest bathed in love’s glow
A turn of the head may make one miss
Loves’ truest course, changed with a kiss
Oh fate be not fair! It is swathed in pain
Lessons swimming with loss, yet in most gain
To look back at life and know all is not
Yet not is all, despite sorrow’s besot
I would not change a thing, not a moment’s despair
If that meant I would never have seen his eyes with such care
Know not of G-d yet I cry tears of joy
For any such force that brought me this boy
Bashert he said. It is meant to be
His eyes with love, as deep as the sea….
