Dear JDate,

I’m so thankful for your website, without it I never would have met the love of my life. I had been over the dating scene to the point where I didn’t even want to bother. About a year earlier, my mother had bought me a JDate subscription and really wanted me to give it a try. My area doesn’t have a large Jewish population, and it’s very hard to meet any Jewish men. I went on a few dates, struck out and decided it just wasn’t for me. Months and months later, I was waiting for a friend to come over who was running late, and an email from JDate popped up in my inbox, so I thought, ‘Why not?’ and signed on. I was logged on for just a few moments when I received a request to chat over IM. I immediately started having a great conversation with a handsome Army officer, Justin, who attended West Point and was now stationed in my town.

After further conversation, we discovered he actually lived about half a mile from me. We made plans to have dinner at a local restaurant a few hours later.

That night, we were sure we had met our soul mates. We stayed up until four or five in the morning talking, and even though I had to leave for Los Angeles for a week the next morning, we kept in touch by sending emails and spending hours on the phone with each other. Justin and I continued to spend almost every day together, and when we were apart, we stayed very close. He had to train in Louisiana for a month, so we sent each other four or five emails a day and we also exchanged letters, too. That summer we took trips to San Francisco, Vegas, Hawaii and up to Victoria, where he proposed to me in the middle of Butchard Gardens. I, of course, was ecstatic.

I had to say goodbye to Justin in September, as he is gone for a year in Iraq. If it weren’t for this deployment, we would marry in the spring, but now we’ve pushed the date back to October. Because we were both open to JDate, we were both open to the possibility of a long-distance relationship. We’ve spent the deployment writing long letters to each other, talking on the phone, writing emails and having phone conversations. The end of next summer can’t come soon enough!

Without JDate, I would be missing out on a type of love I didn’t know existed. I was one of the many who are hesitant to try online dating, and now I will forever be grateful for it. Because I signed up for a quick subscription and signed on, I get to spend the rest of my life with someone wonderful. I’m as happy as can be.

Thank you JDate, for bringing us together.

Shayna and Justin
Tacoma, Washington

 

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July 2014 Update from Shayna & Justin:

Justin and I just had our second baby girl this last June. Five years together, and it’s all because of JDate! Thank you again so much for everything.