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

