Dear JDate,

Rachel and I stumbled across each other while logged into JDate. We exchanged some emails, but she shortly had to depart for a vacation… during which she managed to call me anyway!

Her brand of humor (slightly demented) rivals mine, she’s sensible, and she’s a person of her word — all invaluable traits. I couldn’t meet her just yet, though, for Rachel lived 3,000 miles away in NY. I was contemplating a move back, and had lived around the country enough to know that relocation isn’t as daunting as it seems, nor is finding time to spend with someone in whom you’re truly interested.

At the end of April ’03 on a visit back to NY, our first date was seen inadvertently spending most of the day together, and my instincts confirmed that this was someone I’d want to know much better over time.

Dating exclusively, the relationship was long distance for a few months until I drove cross-country back to NY, with Rachel in tow, for two weeks from New Orleans onward. We couldn’t have asked for a better trip.

It took a while to learn that dating does indeed take time, but allows for more than just a few good stories to tell while out with friends: the experience alone should provide numerous lessons about your place in life and with whom you’re most compatible. I’ve always lived a simple life well within my means, and Rachel does the same. She is one of the most hard-working, driven, and appreciative people I know, and is someone who I easily grew to respect, admire, and love. More importantly, however, she lets me be myself… even when I’m a little stubborn or I burp too loud (or too often). Proposing marriage to her in February was therefore natural, and she happily accepted. We’re looking forward to taking care of each other after having married August 1, 2004.

Love online can and does happen, if you open yourself to the possibility of meeting someone you never would have otherwise encountered.

Thank you, JDate, for providing the means for us to do just that and more.

Rachel & Scott
Brooklyn, New York