Whether you’ve celebrated your fortieth anniversary of marriage, or you’ve just been asked to your senior prom by a long-time crush, recognizing feelings of love are what makes life a beautiful thing. We’ve all felt the pangs of love—sometimes we find it in the eyes of our treasured puppy, or in the endless patience of our grandparents, or when the first time our lips met another’s.

But finding love isn’t easy sometimes. As we grow older, our opportunities for honest, heartfelt connections are lessened by the responsibilities of work, chores, commuting…Well; it’s just plain harder to let our guard down enough to take a chance at love.

So, if you’re still searching for someone to share your life’s adventures, there’s an expert ready to help make your dreams come true. Trite I know, but when you talk to Kristen at Master Matchmakers, Inc. you’ll start to believe again.

"An incredibly large portion of our clientele are widowed and divorced. They’re very busy people in careers who come to us to re-enter the dating world. They believe they ‘don’t know what they’re doing;’ they aren’t meeting the ‘right one.’ There’s a lot at risk, and they don’t want to date just anyone. We’re here to streamline the process—introduce them to a quality individual,” explains Kristen Quackenbush, executive director of matchmaking for Master Matchmakers.

Kristen was once a high school science teacher--perhaps that’s why she understands the chemistry of attraction. All her life, she’d been fixing people up on dates, and frankly, she was good at it. That’s when she decided she needed a career change. Seeing the joy in those friends she connected, and who had found love, gave her heady pleasure. Now she wanted to do it as a professional yenta.

The song “Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match,” plays in my head as I hear about Kristen’s job. She describes how single people come to her with “their list.” Maybe one woman wants her match to be over 6 feet tall, and another man would like to meet a lady who likes football. People find Kristen and then share with her their dreams for a ‘perfect mate.’ Next, she looks through her long, long list of potential dates to find one she thinks would be a good match.

Can’t we do that on our own, I say, thinking back to the years when I met interesting people every day in my work and through friends? Of course, I was in my twenties. Now with two kids, maybe it wouldn’t be so easy.

Why not try eHarmony, Match.com or head out to your local bar, I ask? Kristen shakes her head, “It jades you to go on 50 dates with lots of people. There’s a lot of risk. There are con men and con women out there who can say whatever they want to get into your life.”

True, I said, but what does Master Matchmakers do to keep that from happening? Part of Master Matchmakers’ service is to vet the candidates to make sure everything they tell Kristen is true. She coaches them on what to say and what not to say on those all important first dates: “Don’t talk badly about your ex; don’t talk about politics or religion; don’t talk about what you don’t like, talk about what you do like; be upbeat, etc.”

“You can’t waste all those years looking on line. You can’t get your time back. Being marketable, it goes both ways. You meet someone for a date on line, and they’ve lied about their age or appearance. Then you’ve spent time and money on a babysitter. Many of those experiences are a complete waste of time,” Kristen reasons. “Our services are an investment, but if you’re serious about meeting someone for a long term relationship, we’re going to help you make that happen.”

Kristen specializes in helping people over 40 for whom finding a potential love match is a bit more challenging than it was when they were twenty-five. Not to mention, these same people have a lot of baggage. So she offers date coaching and image consulting.

So, is it worth it, I wonder? Kristen adds, “We have an incredibly high success rate. We coach our clients and some work at it on their own. But a lot get married, because they worked with us and they’ve used methods that we taught them.” Master Matchmakers have 10,000 clients worldwide. “There’s a mecca of amazing people out there, a plethora of people who are very busy with their careers and haven’t had time to find love.”

Kristen sums it up for me: “Read my testimonials. Most say, ‘thank you, I was really leery and skeptical, but you’ve taken me to the happiest place.”

So, now we know--a modern day matchmaker can help you find love. Of course, you can also look on your own. Just remember to smile and only discuss politics on the tenth date.

For more information about Kristen and Master Matchmakers, click here for her contributor bio!  Kristen can be reached directly at Kristen@mastermatchmakers.com if you would like to learn more about working with her as your matchmaker.