Karen and Irving

Dear JDate,

Thanks to you I have “Nature Man” with whom to spend the second half of my life. It’s not easy being a woman in her late 40’s and finding yourself single after 25 years of marriage. JDate helped to not only socially introduce me to today’s dating world but to a man I would never have met since he lived across the state. Unbeknownst to me, the zip code I submitted in my search preferences didn’t just show me matches that were an hour away, but encompassed the entire state of Wisconsin. This distance was a little more than four hours which I didn’t discover until our first date. After corresponding with Irving (“Natureman”) for a month, I nixed the proposed ‘Crane Foundation’ meeting place since it was in the middle of nowhere; so we met at a halfway point for both of us. How could this be halfway if it took me over an hour to get there? The plan was to meet in a Madison bookstore by the Jewish book section and in case there wasn’t one, the gardening section. From there, we would have a bike ride.

It was the hottest day of the year and within minutes of starting our bike ride we were drenched. Irv had a backpack with him and asked if I wanted to stop for something to drink. Out came a chilled bottle of champagne and crystal flutes. Seven years later, the man never ceases to amaze me with his romance – lighting candles for breakfast or packing a picnic lunch to enjoy in the back meadow. I exchanged suburban life for living off the land and growing most of my own food. I should have known from the nickname I gave him right away that “Nature Man” was “The One.” All my other JDates were boys…petfoodboy, skaterboy, golferboy… thank you JDate for bringing Irving into my life.

Karen and Irving
Chaseburg, WI