A computer found him love 32 years ago.

For decades I’ve told friends and some family that I met my wife through a friend. Not just any friend, mind you, but a “good friend.” No one questioned me, chalking up my good fortune to clean living and a decent amount of annual charitable giving.

But after 32 years, I must finally admit that I met my wife online—or, to be a little more precise, via the technology that would power online dating for decades.

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Allen Weiner finally reveals that he met his wife through a Jewish computer-based dating service in Seattle. Apparently back then in the 1980s, online dating was in its embryonic stages. And in those days, the disco scene seemed to be the sure way to hooking up while jamming to music like “Love to Love You Baby”.

Weiner saw an ad about this Jewish computer dating service promising to "jumpstart" his love life in the spring of 1982. He was guaranteed 3 printouts of several "equally eager" women whose profiles matched his. He paid $99 for the service and a questionnaire came in the mail - delivered by a real mailman. And after filling in his "SAT for love" as he calls it, he received the 3 printouts as promised between April and September 1982. Each printout had names and phone numbers of like 4 to 6 women - NO PICTURES!!! And Google search wasn't that detailed with info those days.

After several failed dates (one with a woman who said she heard voices telling her to drive off the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge; another with a woman who told him over dessert that she was engaged among other dates), Weiner had already gone through his two printouts with no luck.

"From the final printout, one woman popped out on the list, notably because she had a first name not common for Jewish women (the same name as a famous Christian saint, in fact)... I called the number to see where she worked, and I learned she was gainfully employed. That’s a good start. Putting past misfires aside, I built up my nerve, and the following weekend, I called her.

We had a light and easy phone conversation for two hours and decided to meet for coffee two days later. With her own list of dating horror stories, the plan was for a one-hour date where we could quickly diagnose any glaring red flags. Struck, for some reason, with a case of the butterflies, I called her and asked if we could push our date up by a day. She agreed, and the following day, we met at a nice café on the top of Queen Anne Hill.

And there she was: tall, dark curly hair, with a sweet smile and a welcoming warmth. I have absolutely no idea what we talked about, but I do remember that moment—the one you have once in your life, if you are lucky. As I walked my date to her rather odd white (non-vintage) Pontiac Firebird, we stopped, and I looked her in the eyes, and we hugged. Pick your favorite rom-com and insert that memorable scene there."

They got hitched 11 months later and are going strong 3 decades later. In conclusion, he says:

"For those venturing into the online dating world, I wish you the same good fortune I was lucky enough to have—32 years ago."

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