2023 Love List

Brent Mecikalski & Nick Ross, Appleton, 4 years
Rachel & Peg Zizmann, Madison, 8 years
D’Quionte (Que) Hughes & Quinton Marks, Milwaukee, 14 years
Dawn & Amanda Siebert – Evenstone, Madison, 16.5 years
T.J. Meehan & Larry Ortt, Boscobel, 47 years

Rachel was too curious not to test the dating site’s algorithm. It was October of 2014, and Rachel wanted to know who OkCupid might suggest for her if she did a national search, filtering for all of her ideal qualities in a partner, and ordering search results so that profiles with the highest compatibility percentages were listed first. There, at the top of her search results, was a profile with a 99% match. The only trouble was that Rachel was living in southern Georgia, and this match was located in Madison, Wisconsin. Rachel perused the match’s profile and decided to shoot her shot. She sent a flirty message.

Peg, the match in Madison, received the message but balked. Rachel lived too far away for anything to come of that exchange, she thought. She didn’t like the odds of long distance romance ever working out. So Peg read the message but ignored it with no intent to respond. As the days passed, Peg could not stop thinking about the woman in southern Georgia. She seemed an undeniably good match, despite the distance. Finally, after a week of contemplating, Peg decided to test the odds of long distance romance against a mathematical algorithm of romantic compatibility.

She messaged Rachel back, and from there the connection was instant. The two messaged through the dating website, but quickly transitioned to exchanging cell numbers and texting. Within a week, they arranged a Skype date. And by the following night, they made a habit of keeping Skype on at all hours of the day, even overnight, to keep one another’s company. Their relationship was built on a foundation of communication and a shared playful sense of humor. Two months later, Rachel drove across the country to meet Peg in person in Madison. The connection in person was even better than online.

In 2016, after nearly two years of long distance dating, Rachel took a job in Madison, and the two moved in together. Peg and Rachel have now been married for six years, and welcomed their first child, Bennett, over the summer. Eight years since Rachel and Peg tested the accuracy of a dating website’s algorithm, they can confirm they are a match!