Matchmaker for Mom

In today's e-dependant matchmaking society, it is becomming less and less common to see the traditional third party set-up. The more common set-up these days is the identification on a potential match for a friend and the forwarding of their profile to that aforementioned friend, made very easy by online site's "tell a friend" feature. Which makes my matchmaking story unique. Yes it was online. But no profiles were forwarded. And it was my mom.

Back in 1999, I began to experiment with online dating and had a free 2 week trial membership to Match.com. Having found no qualified suitors for myself, I decided to search out 50-60 year old men. For my mother, what were you thinking? After all, mom had been divorced from dad for 13 years and while dad was re-married, mom was single. I quickly scanned the profiles of men in her age range, in her religion, and in her area. Given I was on the forefront on online dating, I really couldn't be picky with height or weight- there were only so many men that age in the dating pool.

Just like the Three Little Bears, the qualified men appeared on my screen. One was too young looking, one was too weird looking, and one was just right. Profile Anon.J_Bug seemed great. He, too, was divorced with two daughters, he had an array of interests, and he had hair. I wrote to Anon.J_Bug with the subject line "My Mom Will Kill Me" and proceeded to tell him that although this appeared a little strange, I was writing him on behalf of my "adorable" mother and "would he tell me a little bit more about him so I can see if he was worthy of her."

Jeff wrote me back later that night, agreeing to play along. He shared his hobbies and work interests with me, and said he would call my mother, only if I gave her advance warning. Well, I told mom what I did and shocked was an understatement. As her email was down, she had me reply to Jeff using her words "I am a slim 5'4" (lie mom) with a Masters in Education... blah blah... I would be interested in talking with you. I think we have a lot in common." I gave Jeff my mother's phone number and ended the email with "you never know."

A few days later (initial email was on Thursday, this was Sunday evening,) Jeff called my mom. I forgot to mention that they lived about 50 minutes away from each other. They spoke for about an hour and Jeff said that rather than ringing up a phone bill, they should meet. That night. Although mom was in bed, she quickly threw on clothes and met Jeff at a restaurant in the middle of where they both lived. This was May 23rd, 1999.

Flash forward 11 months- My mom married Jeff. April 16th, 2000.

Next month is their 5-year anniversary.