Is Online Dating for You?

Seven years ago I met my husband. We didn’t meet at a bar, or through friends; we met online. At the time it was a little shocking to my friends and co-workers, but now? Dating online is as common as breathing. Have you thought about taking the plunge? Here’s my story.

My ex and I broke up in January 2001. I remember it clearly; it was right after the Patriots beat the Steelers on the way to their first Superbowl win. It’s funny what the mind remembers, right? Anyways, I was single for the next couple of months, and when I was ready to jump back into the dating pool, at 27 yrs old, I figured I would go out to some bars and meet some people that way. Well, it wasn’t like I remembered it in college – everyone in the bar was younger, cuter and not interested in me. Plus I was tired! By 10:30 I was ready to go home! I certainly wasn’t going to meet anyone like this.

A friend of mine and I got together one night, for some wine and girl talk. We were chatting about our weekends, and as she was talking she mentioned all of these people that she had met that I had never heard of. I asked her where she met them and she told me it was online. I was a little surprised, after all, wasn’t online dating supposed to be this scary place where perverts and weird people hung out? She told me the sites she was on, and when I went home that night I turned on the laptop and decided to check it out.

I started with Match.com, and after browsing around some, and realizing that most people on there seemed normal, I paid a few dollars and created a profile. It took me awhile to find a picture of myself that I liked, but once I did I uploaded it, and then I sat back and wondered what was going to happen. The next day I had a couple of messages in my “inbox” from some guys. I immediately felt strange, and wanted to take my profile down, but I didn’t. It took a while to get over the bizarre feeling that perfect strangers wanted to chat with me, but once I got over it, and emailed back and forth with a few guys, that bizarre feeling went away. It really wasn’t any different than the flirting I had done in college. I decided to enter a second site, MatchMaker.com, and that’s where I met my husband.

He emailed me after seeing my profile, and we went back and forth for about a month, eventually moving onto phone calls. I remember when we set a date for our first meeting, and I told my co-workers that I was going out to dinner with a guy I met online. Some were shocked, some were nervous for me. I reminded them that it really wasn’t any different that meeting guys in bars back in the day, how was that any safer? It wasn’t like I was meeting him for dinner in a dark alley; we were both driving to the restaurant, a very safe atmosphere. The date went well, of course, and we’ve been together ever since. A year after we started dating I turned another friend onto online dating, she and her husband, who she met online, just had their first baby this past July.

So, what do you think? It doesn’t sound that bad, right? A few notes about online dating, from my experience. You must have a photo with your profile; otherwise people will assume you’re not attractive. Mind your grammar, you don’t want to write like a ten year old, people may think you’re not as smart as you are. Don’t be afraid to initiate conversation, be confident! You’re in control with who you want to meet, and who you would rather not chat with anymore. Good luck!