It’s been two days since the apocalypse. Judgment day has passed. Sinners have been punished, and the righteous were flown to heaven on angel wings. My most awkward moment from a life filled with uncomfortable silences and even more uncomfortable silences was pretty anti-climactic. Long story longer, a girl from JDate who stopped talking to me when I was fat and started talking to me again after I lost some weight, happened to be running a wedding of two very good friends of mine. Before the wedding, we went on a date that didn’t go too well. Afterwards, I told her I’d let her know when I lost some weight.

So she was at the wedding, but we were friendly-ish and successfully avoided each other for most of the night. One minute I’msitting at my table with my best friends, the next minute I’m lying in my bed, wearing a suit with a t-shirt over it, with two pairs of boxers on. Also, most of the items in my room are completely trashed. Since I couldn’t remember the end of the night, I asked my bestie what happened. She answered that I should get tested for an STD. After that, she said nothing. If you only remember two things before you die, one should be the knowledge that you should never tell an OCD patient that he should be tested for sexually transmitted diseases and then not tell him anything about what happened. She wouldn’t answer me when my OCD-induced panic kicked in, and I hurriedly tried to reach anybody else that went to the wedding.

I woke up the next morning at 5:30 am after a night filled with dreams about dying covered withback sweat. I went to work, but all I could think about was whatever horrible disease I had contracted during a night I didn’t remember. My friend finally called me and told me that she was just kidding. Hilarious.

This weekend I found myself yet again, witness to the formalization of a love union. Tis the season I suppose to watch my Peter Pan-like friends drop around me like flies into marriage, the ultimate symbol for me of adulthood. Adults or not, the bride and groom planned the wedding their way: conducted in their favorite local watering hole, with my comedy act, and the groom’s musician friends as the centerpieces of entertainment at the reception. There was no flower girl in sight, or even flowers for that matter, but despite these unconventional celebratory measures, the bride looked beautiful and ecstatic as she and her newly wedded husband danced their first dance as a married couple. However, and whenever I put my bachelorette-hood behind me, I hope to do so with a smile on my face as wide as theirs.

This weekend I am attending the wedding of two of my closest friends. It is hard to predict what the exact nature of my emotional response to the proceedings will be. I am not the type of girl to act like a girl, but occasions of this magnitude are capable of breaking down whatever barriers normally prevent me from squealing with delight and from exercising my tear ducts out of happiness. With no explanations or apologies, I plan to gush during this demonstration of genuine love. When it’s over, I will be forced to acknowledge that romance is not a dead medium for human expression like I often insist. It is very much alive. The fact that my hand is not being held as I walk through New York City parks is not a product of a disenchanted zeitgeist, but rather a product of my own choices. Speaking of walks, my friends will do so down an aisle and then profess their love for one another before the eyes of their friends and family. As they do so, I will reconsider my staunch policies on commitment phobia.

Sometimes, in this city that never sleeps, where everyone around you is diving into the wedding pool and you’re still treading water, it feels like nothing can pull you out. So you send out an S.O.S. distress because you’re getting tired of wading through the water. There’s always more fish in the sea – but fishing isn’t really your sport (you’re less than athletically gifted,) so you grab on to the closest raft and tag along on someone else’s journey until you gain enough strength to let go and hop back in the water. If you’re lucky, some seriously great timing will have you sailing on the love boat in some two-ships-passing-in-the-night scenario before you sink 20,000 leagues under the sea. Those even less fortunate will probably end up on next year’s “Shark Week,” featured as some less-than-flattering fish food. So in order to avoid the former not-so-friendly scenario, sit back, rest on a raft for a few. Just make sure you gain back that great white appetite of yours before some other girl gets hooked by a totally tan yacht owner. Even when the waters are rough, remember that you can always dodge the deadliest catch. And hey, if you do start to drown, there’s always a hot lifeguard to save you – and the incentive couldn’t get sexier!

I recently turned to my husband and thanked him – thanked him for inspiring me to create a website for those who have fallen in love and decided to get married.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was nursing a broken heart and considering starting a site for those who were scorned. It’s a good thing that my husband and my chance encounter on JDate changed both my life and my career direction!

My tossing bouquet made out of JDate profiles

A funny thing happens when you meet your spouse on JDate – you find out how many other couples met on JDate too. Some stats: Nearly half of my married Jewish friends met their spouses on JDate. I recently attended my high school reunion and learned that four out of five of my married Jewish classmates met on JDate as well. After I launched Jewish Wedding Network, I started receiving submissions from bloggers, and when questioned on how they met their fiancés, nearly half of them answered, you guessed it – JDate. Those are some pretty amazing statistics!

Why am I telling you all this? For those of you who have met your beshert on JDate, I say “Mazel Tov.” For those of you who have not yet met anyone, I say “hang in there.” I know how hard it can be to feel as though you may never meet “The One.” I was in that position too, as well as many of my friends who are now married. Over the next few weeks, I am going to be sharing some incredible stories of couples who met here on JDate. I hope to one day share your story too.