Dear JDate,
Amy and I wanted to share our story with you since we met on JDate! Even though we grew up in the same town in New Jersey and had several other common threads, our paths would not have crossed if not for JDate!
I found Amy’s profile online during the summer of 2005 and felt compelled to write. She responded to my email within a day and began to tell me a little about herself. Amy asked me if I’d ever heard of the town where she grew up, West Orange, New Jersey. Not only had I heard of it, but I grew up there as well! That email exchange on a Tuesday led to a Wednesday telephone conversation. There was an immediate and undeniable spark between us on the telephone. We learned that we grew up less than one mile from each other in New Jersey, that our parents seemed to have some friends in common and that Amy’s parents resided in a townhouse they purchased from my grandparents. How bizarre is that?! After all of the things that we hear about Jewish families trying to fix up their nice Jewish boys with nice Jewish girls, I often wonder how it was that Amy and I were never aware of one another!
By the end of our first telephone conversation, I knew that I had to meet Amy as soon as possible. We made arrangements to meet for a drink that Saturday night. A few hours prior to our date, having this feeling that this was going to be really special, I decided to get something new to wear for my date with Amy. It was about 100 degrees and extremely humid, and after emerging from the subway at 7 pm, my cell phone rang and it was Amy. She asked me if I was wearing a white shirt and had just come up from the subway. I was now in a panic because, having traveled underground on a packed subway for the last 30 minutes, I was quite uncomfortable from the heat and wanted a chance to cool down. At the same moment, I looked across Broadway and observed this incredibly attractive girl talking on a cell phone looking at me and realized that this was Amy!
We walked to a local upper west side cafe, had drinks and cooled down for a few minutes. What seemed like only minutes ended up being hours. We clicked in a way that was truly unbelievable. It felt as though we’d known each other for our entire lives! Drinks led to a walk down Broadway and then dinner. Dinner lasted until 1am and the date ended with a kiss..
I excitedly called Amy the next morning, and we arranged to meet again on Tuesday evening for dinner. Over the next two months, Amy and I were inseparable. We met each other’s friends and families and both knew that we would end up someday getting married to one another.
In mid-December 2005, I decided that it was time. There was no question that Amy was the girl that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. After shopping for an engagement ring, I began to ponder how I might propose. The excitement of our meeting on your site, and the excitement of knowing that she was truly “the one” helped me to formulate an equally exciting way to propose!
I am an avid pilot. I fly small airplanes for pleasure and as a volunteer pilot for a charity organization called Angel Flight. I had to somehow incorporate this into my proposal. With the help of my parents, sister and brother-in-law, we made giant four foot tall letters cut from wood that spelled out “Marry Me Amy.” On a sunny Saturday morning in December, just a few days after a snowfall and prior to the holidays, I told Amy I’d like her to accompany me while flying to an air show in Pennsylvania. (An air show in the middle of winter?? I don’t think so!!!) She happily agreed, having no idea what was coming! We drove to the airport, and I was a nervous wreck. The letters were in place, the weather was cooperating and Amy had no clue…perfect!!
Just before we took off, I asked Amy if she would hold my digital camera because I wanted to help my brother-in-law by taking aerial photos of his property since he was thinking of selling a portion of it. I told her that she’d have to take the photos while I circled over the house.
Immediately after take-off, I navigated to my “destination,” which was less than a minute from the airport. I had already clued in the air traffic controllers as to what was happening, and they were more than happy to take part in my plan by clearing the airspace around where I would be proposing. As we circled 1000 feet over the property, Amy was having trouble focusing the camera and then looked and said, “What does that say?” Her mouth then dropped open and she froze. There were the letters we’d laid out in the snow, and my sister added an extra touch by spray-painting a 50 x 50 foot fluorescent orange colored heart around the letters so that they would stand out even more!! Amy was in complete shock!! I gave her the ring, told her that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her as my wife and asked her to marry me! She said yes and had to be reminded to open the ring because she was in complete shock! We took a few more pictures and then requested permission to land. Employees from the airport were waiting on the ground for us and took a photo as we emerged from the plane.
Amy and I were married Saturday, April 1, 2006. We are so thankful that we met on JDate and are looking forward to a lifetime of happiness.
Amy & Steven
Hoboken, New Jersey