AUGUST 31 • 2023 | 21
T
here’s a right time for
everything, or so the
saying goes — and some-
times that time can be sooner
than you’d expect! Lisa Kaplan,
for instance, was certainly not
expecting to meet her bashert
just hours after she’d ended a
two-year relationship.
It was April 1985 when the
West Bloomfield native, then
24, signed up for the B’nai
Brith singles softball league in
Berkley, looking to grow her
circle of friends and distract
herself from the pain of her
recent breakup.
One player, Steve Kaplan of
Southfield, immediately noticed
her and was so enamored that
he memorized her phone num-
ber from the sign-up sheet. He
then strode over to Lisa and
confidently recited her phone
number.
Lisa, at first taken aback,
realized he was interested and
agreed to go out with him.
The following weekend, they
went to a circular theater and
saw Taming of the Shrew.
“It was a boring play,” Lisa
recalled. “When we got out,
Steve asked me how many peo-
ple I thought were in the theater.
Since I was bored, I had actually
counted … and so had he!”
They also went to Swenson’s
for ice cream, and after Lisa fin-
ished her own dish, she helped
Steve finish his.
“I had no qualms about him
thinking I was a pig!” laughed
Lisa.
At one point during their first
date, Steve did a complex card
trick that relied on memory and
intelligence. It impressed Lisa
… but not in the way that he’d
hoped.
“I told him he’s definitely not
right for me because he’s too
smart,” Lisa said. “I was con-
vinced that he couldn’t be ‘the
One,’ because you just don’t meet
your destined one three hours
after you end a relationship.”
Still, Steve was nice, and Lisa
had no major reason to say no,
so she kept agreeing to more
dates. Soon, they were seeing
each other regularly.
About seven months after
they met, Steve started talking
about marriage, and that made
Lisa a little nervous.
“Finally, Steve told me, ‘You
may miss out on your oppor-
tunity,’ and I figured I should
rethink this,” Lisa laughed.
In November 1986, they tied
the knot at Beth Achim.
The family has solid Detroit
roots — both Steve and Lisa
attended Tamarack as kids and
had been involved in B’nai
Brith. Lisa is a lifelong member
of Hadassah, and Steve was a
member of the men’s club at
Temple Beth El. They knew
about 50 people in common
before they even met each other.
Steve earned his MBA at
Wayne and his law degree from
Oakland University and Detroit
College of Law. Lisa attended
University of Michigan and
earned her bachelor’s of psy-
chology and master’s in social
work. Steve works as a West
Bloomfield Township super-
visor and is a retired assistant
prosecuting attorney; Lisa is
a social worker at Henry Ford
Maplegrove Center.
Today, the couple has two
adult daughters, Erin, 33, who
works in college administra-
tion in Philadelphia where she
lives with her husband, Michael
Boxer, and Stacey, 30, a social
worker who’s recently engaged
to Sam Kopmar.
“Both our kids met their sig-
nificant others online … It’s such
a shame people aren’t joining a
good old softball game in order
to meet others,” Lisa mused. “It’s
a different world nowadays.”
Now, 36 years (double chai!)
into their marriage, Lisa said, “I
couldn’t be happier. We are each
other’s best friends and biggest
cheerleaders … Even though I
was right and he is very smart,
he’s also very humble.”
The couple continued playing
softball together for many years
until they both had to stop
because of injures — for him it
was a knee, for her it was a torn
labrum.
“No worries, we switched to
pickleball and still play when we
can,” Lisa said.
This column will appear biweekly. If you’d
like to share your ‘meet-cute’ story, please
email burstynwithjoy@hotmail.com.
‘It Could Be
Sooner Than
You Think’
ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
HOW WE MET
Lisa and Steve Kaplan’s wedding photo
Steve and Lisa Kaplan