With the surge of social media sites in recent years, it’s only natural that being “social” with someone can and does lead to dating. Currently there are more than 1500 dating sites in the U.S. and the number is rising. More and more people — men and women alike — are drawn to world of Internet dating.
Why?
It’s easy? It’s comfortable being behind your laptop? Laziness?
All of the above and more. Anyone on the dating scene can see how rough it really is out in the jungle. You just never know who that person is sitting next to you on that barstool. I’m not going to go over all the pros and cons to Internet dating, but I will give you my humble, yet one-sided opinion.
I believe EVERYONE who wants to date should first do so online. Brief history time: I never belonged to any social media site. When I went through my divorce in ’05, I was ready to hit the dating scene! I was cocked, locked and ready to rock! The bar scene was just ridiculous. How men can spend all their time at a bar trying to “hook up” is beyond me. I was all for meeting women and having a good time, but I found the quality of said women lacking.
Disclaimer: To any women hanging out in bars, no offense, I was still living in CT — they weren’t my type.
Over a few beers at a family barbeque, my younger brother offered up some advice. “How about starting a page on MySpace?” he asked. I said, “Isn’t that where all the pedophiles hang out and troll?” Look, I didn’t know anything about these sites, okay? He laughed and told me no, that he and his wife had a page with their kids and you could share pics with family and reconnect with friends.
What the hell did I have to lose?
My brother gave me the basics on setting my page up and I was off! It was cool! Anyway, back to why I think it’s the only way to go. One night, I received a message from a woman from Houston, TX. The message simply said ’Hi hottie’. There were a lot of MySpace whores online trying to spread porn around and when you click their link you would be in virus hell! (don’t ask how I know) I figured this woman was no different. My thought was confirmed when I checked out all the hot, beautiful pics on her page, until I saw one pic that showed her with her young daughter. I sent her a generic message that said hi and asked about the weather down there and that kind of small talk.
She messaged me back shortly after.
After that, we messaged each other all the time — asking all sorts of questions about each other. We talked religion, politics, family, sex and nothing was off-limits. The fact that she lived 2300 miles away let me be totally honest with her, and her with me. I guess we both figured that there was no chance of us ever meeting so why front?
We messaged all the time! This went on for about 5 weeks. Finally, we got tired of writing so much that she offered up her phone number, asking if I would like to talk.
Of course I called her immediately! Her voice was angelic. We talked and texted multiple times a day every day for several weeks.
We fell in love without even meeting!
I saw pictures of her on her page and she sent me newer pictures, but I was dying to actually see her. Anyone that has ever met someone online knows that some people use pics from years ago or use pics that are ’just right’. Then when you actually see them you’re like “seriously? Was I talking to your sister?” I already told myself if she was half as good looking in person as she was in her pictures I was good with it. After another few weeks of talking each others’ ears off, she asked if I wanted to meet.
Oh boy, moment of truth
We decided it best if I flew to Houston so she could be on her “own turf”. No prob. I flew to H-town a couple weeks later. I was nervous. We were on our phones trying to locate each other but I saw her first. She was coming up an escalator 2 floors below me while I was coming down. She couldn’t see me but I saw her and I was shocked!
She was freaking beautiful!
I suddenly had the terrifying realization that I was way out of my league. I’ve dated some good looking girls in my day, but no one like her. Any man that has lived in the north and then has had to travel down south for the first time knows what I mean about a southern girl. Anyway, we met and it was wonderful. She was the same person I’d been talking to for months and I fell even more in love. Needless to say we made the distance work until we married 1 year later.
We have been married now over 5 years and still going strong! I believe with all my heart that as long as you both are honest with your questions and answers you WILL find your soul mate — even if your life together begins online.
