"Are they going to go out again?" she asked
Miriam took on the role of the intelligent professor: "It's hard to tell, because they aren't talking much."
Debra thought about that: "But they are smiling at each other!"
Last time I checked smiling wasn't enough of a reason to get married. Half an hour later that couple was not talking, and no one was smiling anymore. As an act of pity (and to respond to a dare set by Debra and Miriam) I took a napkin and wrote down "10 things to talk about on a shidduch date". The list included wonderful things like hats and headcoverings, repulsion towards blind dates, yeshivas/seminaries, negiah, love for Israel, nuclear Iran, different shades of grey and other things. I signed the letter "a fellow shidduch dater" and handed it to the waiter who gave it to the couple.
The couple laughed. Hey, who knows? Maybe this is the napkin that saved the match. Perhaps ten years down the road I will be walking in town, will see a couple with two strollers and toddlers hanging on, and that will be all thanks to that gesture of humor in a restaurant.
