By JoAnne
For such a short courtship, it seems like a mighty long story.

After Bob's first wife, Connie, died in July 1993, he wrestled with the idea of marrying or not marrying again. In November or December of 1993 he decided marriage was the way to go, so he started looking around.

Since we're both members of the Mother of God Catholic Charismatic Community, he looked within it to find "the one." He asked others in the community for "suggestions." I was one of those suggested - unbeknownst to me. He tells me he saw me in the church or in the choir and liked what he saw except that I looked "so quiet" - can you imagine!

Meanwhile, I knew nothing of this activity. In April, though, a friend told me Bob was looking and, out all those suggested, had decided he wanted to date me. So I waited to hear from him.

The call came on May 9th at 6 pm and went like this:
> Hello
> Hello, this is Bob R. May I speak to JoAnne please?
> This is she.
> Well, I understand you're expecting my call.
> Yes, I am.
> I'd like to start dating as soon as possible.
> That's fine.
> How about this week - Wednesday?
> Wednesday would be fine.
> Six o'clock?
> Six o'clock is good.
> Goodbye.
> Goodbye.
This was the first time we'd ever spoken and it took less than one minute. Can you imagine?

Wednesday at 6 pm the doorbell rang and we were off to dinner. From the first moment it was as if we'd always known each other. We talked like old friends. By 9 o'clock when Bob dropped me off, we had gone over our whole life's history. Bob said, right then and there, that he had written down all that he had wanted in a wife and that he'd found it all in me that night.

Our second date was that Saturday night, May 14th, at Baltimore Harbor. We had to waste some time before going to dinner, so we were window-shopping. There was a store called "The White Store" with wedding dresses displayed. I called to Bob, "Come here and see these." Bob replied, "Don't tell me you're looking at wedding dresses already!" I answered, "Yes, I am. Why beat around the bush?"

And so we spent the remainder of the evening planning our wedding. Halfway through dinner Bob said that we were getting ahead of ourselves, and that he hadn't yet asked me to marry him. To which I replied, "So?"

The rest is history, so they say. I think we may have had the shortest courtship on record: 3 hours on Wednesday night and 3 hours on Saturday night. And, I think it is safe to say, it is a "match made in heaven."

Bob and JoAnne in 1994