Suddenly *Not So* Single Journey

Finding my Match

Author: thenicknick

One day at work I had lunch with the thoroughbreds.  While Donna was happily ensconced in a relationship with the man of her dreams (Thom, you are one lucky man.), Tina was playing the field, juggling men like clowns do plates and with far more success.  She was complaining about having dates just shy of every night that week.  Finally, I just came right out and asked her.

Where do you find all these men?

Her response: Match.com.

I have to admit, I was intrigued.  Now ask Michael, the consultant I work with, and he’ll tell you that I’m no thoroughbred.  I’m built for comfort.  Luckily, many men like comfort.  Even more luckily, I don’t need hoards of men, I just need one, the right one, the one.

So, that evening, after I did the mom thing and cooked and cleaned, and did the other mom thing–kick Rachel off the computer–I went on Match.com.  Oh, the pressure.  So many elegible bachelors, so little time.  I struggled to create a profile.  I’m convinced that what I’ve got doesn’t translate well online.  Could be because I’m not what you’d call ‘photogenic.’  Nope.  Not even a little.  My daughter is completely baffled.  (And she was completely annoyed.  Who do you think had to spend hours taking ‘candids’ of me posing?  Yet still we’re on good speaking terms.)

Finally, the profile complete, the photos loaded, I awaited my approval and passed the time surfing.  I had a list of favorites to compile.  It was fun, like shopping, only for men.  Same problems with fit though.  I was forgiving.  I was determined.  And before long, I was being contacted.

Like Craigslist, my heart wasn’t into it.  I spent too much time picking at flaws, they all had the same one: not S.  And when I moved in, I deleted my profile and canceled my membership.

Of the various online dating services, this is the one I’d go with, if things went south and I had to throw myself back into the dating pool.  I studied various models and found this one to be easiest to use, and most effective.  I liked getting my Daily Five, a specially compiled list of guys I had something in common with.  (Sometimes it was obscure like, ‘He likes to watch football just like you!’  They might as well have said, ‘He’s a mammal, just like you!’)  And there were daily emails of guys that matched what I was looking for, and guys that were looking for someone like me.  (That was always reassuring.)

In the online dating world, Match.com rules.

Tags: online dating

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 7:33 pm and is filed under A Single Girl's Guide. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.