Dear JDate,

I had been divorced for a while and had a few long-term relationships, but they didn’t work out. A friend suggested that I try the internet, but I was a little skeptical. I tried one site, but never found anyone who I actually wanted to meet. My sister suggested that I try JDate. I went on a number of dates and met a few nice people. I started a long-distance relationship, but it was too hard to make it work, so we broke it off.

Again, I was back on JDate, and a nice-looking guy from 20 minutes away contacted me; so, we arranged to meet.

Michael was a divorced sportswriter who had a few relationships that hadn’t worked out. When we went on our first date, we realized we shared similar views on life and the future, and we really made each other laugh. With this much in common, we were off to a great start.

When we started dating, it was during an extremely busy time in Michael’s life. His father ended up in the hospital, and his job sent him to Germany for over a month. Nevertheless, we managed to get through the hard times and kept in contact every day while he was away.

At that point, we realized that we would be together forever! On the way to a cousin’s wedding in Boston, we chose our wedding day: the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, after the Counting of the Omer in 2007. Michael officially proposed to me at his parents’ house on Chanukah 2006.

As I write this, I am exactly a week away from the wedding. We are having a traditional Jewish ceremony at a hotel near my house. My father, who is a rabbi, will officiate, and our cantor is Michael’s cousin. We love how she does the Sheva Brachot. My daughter is my maid of honor, and she will be walking me down the aisle along with my son, who is expecting our first grandchild.

I don’t think that we would ever have found each other without JDate.

Tips for other JDaters:
We both didn’t go to bars or clubs, so the only way to meet a nice Jewish man or woman was through JDate.

Joy & Michael
Lake Ronkonkoma, New York