Our JDate success story starts back in early November 2006.

Here is how we both remember the events of our love story:

Tracy:

Like any other typical Jewish mother, mine was annoying me to join JDate. What wasn’t so typical is that I wasn’t like most girls at 28-years-old; I was widowed about a year before. Everyone thought that if I started dating, I would start healing. I let them all convince me that this was a good thing, but before I took the plunge I decided to fish around under my sister’s JDate account.

I found a few guys who I thought might be a good match and I sent a few emails under my sister’s screen name. One of those emails was to Jon.

Jon:

I was at work, killing time on JDate, checking emails when I received one from a girl named Randi. The subject of the email was “This isn’t my account, but…” This, of course, was very enticing and I wrote back. Tracy and I exchanged emails and photos and decided to meet up on a dinner date. She was really cute and we had a lot in common. We were born a week apart and shared some common interests. But there was a slight catch…Tracy was the first JDate I had gone on where the girl wasn’t living in New York. She was a Jersey girl and I was a boy from Connecticut.

Tracy:

Jon and I set a dinner date for a few days later. I drove to Hoboken from central Jersey and took the Path to Christopher Street where Jon met me. I was so nervous; I hadn’t been on a date in so long, I figured I wouldn’t really like him and it would be a “no harm, no foul” situation. But that wasn’t the case. I saw Jon waiting on the top of the stairs for me and he was adorable. We headed off to Westville Restaurant (which is still one of our favorite spots to eat) for what turned into an amazing date. We had good wine and great conversation. We ended the evening with a great walk along the Hudson River.

Jon:

I walked Tracy back to the Path train and we said our goodbyes knowing that we wanted to see each other again. We talked on the phone and emailed every day after the first date and went out on several more dates over the next month.

Over that time, Tracy had talked about how she had lost her husband just a year prior. Tracy and I had a connection that felt very deep, very fast. As much as I cared for Tracy then, I knew it was too soon for us to be dating.

Tracy:

Over the next month, as Jon and I were getting closer, I started to realize that our connection made me uneasy. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was suppose to be one date. I knew that I had to end it for both of us. I wasn’t ready to be dating and I knew that I wasn’t being fair to either one of us.  So that is what I did. Jon, of course, couldn’t have been nicer or more understanding and so we went our separate ways.

Jon:

Fast-forward to January, 2010. I had been on and off JDate over the next three years and had my fair-share of dates, but nothing that got too serious. I was getting lost in Facebookland and came across a picture of a friend dancing at a wedding. As I looked closer at the other people dancing in the picture, I realized Tracy was at the same wedding as my buddy! It turns out the picture was from Tracy’s album. She looked amazing! I thought about it for a few minutes and got the courage to send her a message.

Tracy:

I eventually became ready to date and created my own JDate profile. I went on dates for the next couple of years and nothing was happening, but I was being patient. It was a new year and I was optimistic.

Out of the blue, I get a Facebook message from Jon. He explained to me how he saw me in one of his friend’s pics and asked how I was and if I wanted to grab a drink sometime. At first, I didn’t know if I wanted to respond. I had always felt bad about ending things with him and thought he was upset with me.

My first call was to my sister. She, so kindly, reminded me of all the guys I had dated over the last few years and how Jon was always the nicest one. So I wrote back and we had set our “second first date” for the following weekend.

I met him at his apartment; here I was walking up stairs again to meet him and he was waiting at the top for me.

Jon:

As I waited outside of my tiny, studio apartment door, I heard the footsteps of Tracy walking up. My heart was racing with anticipation. As soon as she rounded the corner and headed up the stairs, I saw her and a calm feeling came over me. We went out and caught up over wine and sushi. Although three years had gone by, I felt like I had known her all along.

We began dating, going back and forth between New York City and Central New Jersey. We braved a few blizzards during the winter of 2010, met each other’s parents, siblings and friends.  We fell in love and, in June, decided to live together.

Tracy:

In June I packed up my dog and place in Central Jersey and Jon packed up his studio apt on the Upper East Side and moved to Hoboken. Coincidentally, it’s the exact opposite side of the Hudson, where we walked on our very first date back in 2006. Our love for each other only grew after the move. We traveled all summer and really started focusing on building a life together.

Without JDate our love story would never exist. We are happily engaged and planning a fall 2011 wedding.

Thank you JDate!!!

Tracy and Jon
Hoboken, New Jersey