You've seen it before in a hundred romantic comedies and antiperspirant commercials...the meet cute. You know, like when the girl is walking in the park with her dog on a leash, and the cute boy's dog chases the girl's dog, and the leashes entwine and wrap around the boy and the girl so they're face to face and they meet?
Well, that's never happened to me. Of course, the way my life goes, if it was a movie, the cute boy's dog would be attracted by the chili I had not noticed I'd dripped down my jeans, and my meet cute would be with the EMT guy stitching up the bite marks in my thigh and sticking the tetanus needle in my ass. Seriously.
All this to say that between work, housework, homework, yardwork, the girls' activities, and the rare times out with friends, there are not many opportunities for me to meet a guy. So, despite my squeamishness, I'm considering checking out an online dating site. Cripes, even my mom was telling me all about Plentyoffish.com that she heard about from my stepdad's homecare worker. My mom, people.
And it's not like I haven't made friends online. My online moms' group has been together since 2001, and we've had two get-togethers that were wildly successful. And there are the women whose blogs I read and have found them in real life to be just as funny and charming as they are through a computer screen. Surely that's a good indication that an online romance wouldn't necessarily be a horrible catastrophe. Right?
So I'm throwing it out there to you, my readers. Did you ever date anyone you met online? Did it work out? Was it scary? Any tips? All stories are welcome, good and bad. I just wanna find out from someone who knows first-hand before I decide to stick my toe in that water. Or spill some chili on my pants.
Can't say that I have...I met Andy just as online stuff was really taking off, and we never so much as exchanged an e-mail!
ReplyDeleteThat said, a friend met someone on--I think--eHarmony. While they didn't get married, they did hit it off online and date for awhile in real life, and I think they're still friends.
You just have to be careful and really really screen who you decide to meet. Hey, at the very least it'll make for GREAT blog material!
My first thought was the same as Alissa's--it would be great blog material. I never dated anyone I met on-line either, but that doesn't mean I'd be averse to trying it.
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience and the experiences of ALL my single friends, the online dating thing is an exercise in futility, frustration, absurdity and sometimes scarier stuff. Having said that I do know of 2 women who claim to have met their husbands on a dating site. Of course their standards were very low - main criteria: "able to reproduce". Both women have their much wanted children, but have been supporting the %#&!!? husbands since day one. General consensus is that all the men lie on dating sites, which means most of them are married (among other things). Personally, I think you're better off joining a face-to-face group like a singles dinner group or something. Good luck & it WILL make for great blogging topics
ReplyDeleteI have had a couple of friends try the dating online....with some hits and misses. I think you have to be prudent about when/how you meet and be ready for some efforts in futulity. One friend is dating a guy she met online and they have been dating for about 4 months...another just had a first/last date with a guy that really just wanted to come over for a visit (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
ReplyDeleteI'd give it a try and see what happens. Of course, we all want to hear about it on your blog!! ;)
Also, don't be afraid of the delete button.
I have one friend married to a man she met online when they were younger. They now have 2 kids and 3 foster kids.
ReplyDeleteI have another friend who just met her current boyfriend on lavalife. So far so good.
I have heard lots of people talk about online dating in a general sense but I don't think a lot of people admit to it.
I figure as long as you are realistic and don't think that every guy is telling you the 100% truth - some are - some aren't then why not.
I married before the internet, but I know many women who have met some nice guys and even a spouse or two. Go for it!
ReplyDeleteI think you already know this but I met Dan online. We been together for almost 12 years now. But we didn't met through an online dating service. We met through a chat room.
ReplyDeleteI think you know I met B on-line. It was a chat room called Friend Finder (I don't know if it's still in existence) and I had a happily ever after.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! There are a lot of neat people out there. I NEVER would have met B if we hadn't connected over the internet.
No. I've no experience with online dating. I met my husband on the street (it's true, I swear, ask Jay).
ReplyDeleteI don't know too much about the online dating world, but I just wanted to say, you should go for it. It can't hurt, right? Who knows, it might be worth a laugh or two!
I don't have any great internet dating stories, and I know people who've had good experiences and people who've had very bad ones.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, though, the dog bite / tetanus meet cute scenario made me laugh my ass off :D
I've never experienced online dating but I know a couple people that have met and married after meeting online and another couple that just moved in together.
ReplyDeleteOnline or face-to-face...there's always going to be the frogs mixed in with the prince's!
Ummm, nope. Met Kevin while we were both cheering for our high school's basketball team. Oh, that and I dated his brother too.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I'd trust the whole online thing. I'm secretly plotting to kidnap you all at our next GTG! No, seriously I think you've got a good head on your shoulders and you'd know if something didn't seem right. So I say go for it and check it out!
Oh, I so want to read the posts about your forays into online dating! Don't do it for yourself, do it for us!! (I met Beloved in a bar and went home with him because he offered to show me his sketches. But, I have met some of my best friends online -- gotta count for something, right?)
ReplyDelete2 of my friends met their husbands online. it can be a source of dating fun and as everyone else has said, just be careful and meet public.
ReplyDeleteyou KNOW I'm gonna want to hear about it - wink, wink.
I have not dated anyone online, but if I was single I would give it a try. I would just stick to the men I could actually meet in person. I wouldn't trust what they wrote if I couldn't verify it.
ReplyDeleteAm a lurker but need to comment on this post!! I'm a 42 yr old single mother with 2 kids. I met my BF online through Plenty of Fish. We have been dating over a year and it is going really well. I was terrified to try online dating after my separation but found it quite interesting. I went on a couple of dates with some real losers but the third was the charm! Good luck to you. What have you got to lose?
ReplyDeleteThe Man and I met in university so it was pre-internet. (My son looks at me oddly when I talk of the pre-internet days.)
ReplyDeleteI think it depends. I know two people who have hooked with complete and total losers online. But like someone else here said their self-esteem and standards were/are pretty low.
I have however met a lot of really cool people online so I reckon it's possible. You just have to be careful. (And we want to hear all about it.)
think of all the great blogging people you have met online - why not meet a great guy online too!
ReplyDeletei would totally do it if i wasn't suckered into i mean happily married.
of course, use those carp street smarts of yours.
Honey, when I met my husband, there was no online.
ReplyDeleteI've never done the on line thing but know tons who have. Not always good, but not always bad.
ReplyDeletePlentyofffish.com is free...........I'll help write the profile. Let me know :)
And, if I worked my way down to your area for a wknd, would you come meet me?? Not a pick up, just on a University tour :)
I'm sorry, I have no experience with online dating. I met the husband back when internet was way too slow for that ;)
ReplyDeleteBut I have a few friends who had a couple of fun dates through websites like that.Most of them ended up just dating ones or twice, but I also know a couple who met online, got married and had a baby! And after 5 years, they are still together.
Have fun and keep us posted!!
I have never done the online dating thing, but think of it this way...if it doesn't work out, it will probably give you some fun stuff to blog about!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck...
I have a male friend who has been on lavalife for years... but he's not the kind to settle down just yet (one of those professional daters, but he's a really, really nice guy, I guess he's just commitment shy). Of girlfriends, none I know have had successes, although I worked with a girl who met her husband online and they ended up very happy and are parents of twins now.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with this.... dating at our age is really a challenge. There are some good guys out there, it's just that they're hard to find the good single ones.
I love your dog/chili scenario. You are too hilarious!