Move over eHarmony; this romance started with a Facebook sighting

Veterinarian Dr. Jonathan Cooper, a partner at Westbury Animal Hospital, first discovered Lynn Zeid, development director for the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, on Facebook. Never having crossed paths, they did have a Facebook friend in common and Lynn's playful comments online caught Jonathan's imagination as did the attractive photo that accompanied her words. So he made a few clicks moving on to her Facebook page. Luckily, it was before Lynn chose the privacy option. He was smitten. But how to connect?

A recent divorcee, Lynn had moved to West University, attracted by the neighborly lifestyle and the schools for her children. She met a friendly mom in a park one day, ran into her at a holiday dinner later and then bumped into her again at their childrens' kindergarten orientation. At the school, the women chatted. The new friend had her husband and her ex-husband in tow. The ex happened to be Jonathan.  (His dreams of meeting Lynn were on the road to coming true.)

The next day, Lynn received a Facebook friend request from Jonathan Cooper. The name didn't ring a bell, but she assumed it was an old college acquaintance. Eventually, she realized it was her friend's ex-husband and they began a Facebook correspondence. "Very funny banter, some flirtatious, but definitely my interest was sparked," she says. 

After lots of back-and-forth Facebook exchanges, he asked her out for Valentine's Day. "As corny as it sounds, it was THE best first date, THE best Valentine's Day," she e-mailed. "It felt like connecting with an old friend, like I was home."

It took several months for Jonathan to confess that he had actually discovered Lynn on Facebook and had tried to get their mutual friend to make an introduction. That didn't happen for various reasons, but wasn't necessary in the end because his ex-wife did the honors.

"Since then, we have become a beacon of hope that romance can be right around the corner and hit you like a ton of bricks," she says.

Jonathan says that great romances, and this one surely is, run in his family. His father, the late Dr. Ben Cooper, was gloriously in love with his wife, Elouise Cooper Jones of Ouisie's Table fame, until his untimely death in 1994.

Wednesday: A high-fashion model and a professional baseball player merge their disparate worlds into one happy marriage

• Facebook, romance
• Jonathan Cooper, Lynn Zeid

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