I was a little hesitant to sign up for JDate initially. But I took the plunge when I heard about the Purim special: “Two months for the price of one!” At first I didn’t have much luck getting any dates. But then…
Sarah clicked “favorite” on my profile and that made me take notice of her. I clicked on her profile and saw how cute and beautiful she was. Part of me didn’t even believe she had intended to favorite me. I figured it must have been a mistake. I wrote her immediately, excited at the chance to get to talk to her.
We exchanged a few messages before I asked her to dinner. On our first date we went for Ethiopian food. We hit it off pretty quickly; the conversation flowed easily and we both laughed a lot.
After dinner we went out for a couple of drinks. We both had cider! She shared pictures of her adorable nephew and we talked about love.
By our second date I knew that she was the one for me. We shared our first kiss. If I wasn’t already sure, having spent an entire Passover Seder away from each other was agonizing. We promised that next year, and every year after, we would have a Seder together. Just a couple of weeks later we said “I love you” to each other. And not long after that, we revealed the secret we were both keeping: that we were already considering the possibility of marriage. It just felt right. So did everything else.
Over the next few months our families met and got along famously. Sarah’s family was so warm and made me feel so welcome. I was honored when I was invited to come over to Sarah’s parents’ home for Shabbat dinner. I’ve been coming over every Shabbat since.
A little over a year after we began dating, I secretly asked to speak with Sarah’s mother and father. I told them that I was planning to ask Sarah to marry me while we were on our upcoming trip to South Africa. Her parents were both thrilled. Her mom even ran into the other room and came back with a travel pouch to hide the ring in.
The last day of our week in South Africa we took a tour bus to Table Mountain. As we looked over the city of Cape Town and enjoyed the breathtaking view, I told Sarah that I wanted to keep going on adventures like that one for the rest of our lives. I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.
She said yes.
Sarah and Ross
Tempe, Arizona
That’s us! Thanks for posting our story and thanks for bringing us together! Sarah and I lived about 15 minutes away from each other for much of our lives and knew so many mutual friends in the Jewish community yet never met. We even suspect there may have been some high holiday services that we were in the same building together at some point though that is unconfirmed.
We owe it all to you, JDate!
I love you, Ross! Thank you for publishing this, Jdate, and for bringing us together! Ross wrote this story and it made me fall in love with him even more! We are so lucky. XO.