Beyond Paris

So now that Sal and I have been together for 4 months and we’ve met each other’s families (for the most part), would you like to know how we met?

www.match.com

Yep. Online.

We didn’t meet in Paris (my favorite scenario) or through mutual friends (we had none). We met through a good old matchmaking service.

Dana’s Story

Dana's match profile pic

Knowing I needed a change, my work BFF suggested last October that I go online, create a profile, and just see who was out there. I was skeptical, but she kept pushing me and I finally caved. I paid for one month, 30 days. Just to see.

I’ll tell you, I had the best time reading profiles of all different kinds of people. How the guys described themselves, the things they chose to mention, the pictures they posted. It was all very interesting, and quite entertaining.

Surprisingly, my profile got more views than I ever would have expected and I received a few emails as well. I came up with fun names for the few guys with whom I chatted.

“Tall Paul” was only 5’7” and a Pittsburgh firefighter. Apparently my working at MSA freaked him out. His sister does as well and he was afraid she and I might actually meet or worse, know each other, and he canceled our first date. Thank goodness we discussed our jobs prior to actually meeting. That would have been really awkward for me to mention MSA and for him to run out the door.

“Alimony Tony” was a divorced dad of one who works as a nurse and also as a pharmaceutical sales rep. I spoke to him on the phone twice too. He was nice to talk to, but there were things about him that I wasn’t sure I wanted in my life. Nothing bad, just not right for me.

Then there was “Singing Sal”.

It was November 7, 2011, I was 2 weeks into my match membership, and I had expanded my search criteria to 50 miles from my home, just to have different profiles to read. I didn’t actually want to meet someone from Ohio. Well, in the 30 minutes I spent reading profiles of guys in the Steubenville area, I received a notification that “scrandog” was interested in me.

Now, there’s something I have to say here that I haven’t even told Sal. During my time on match, I avoided guys who put “dog” or “dawg” in their screen name. I mean what is that and what does it mean? However, it wasn’t a deal breaker, just not my first choice.

Dog or no dawg, Sal’s profile picture saved him. He had a friendly face and a nice smile. He was also wearing a shirt; which is kind of a rarity on Match as I had found out. Being shirtless was a deal breaker. I checked out all of his pictures. . .fully clothed. It seemed safe to proceed.

I read his profile. I wish I kept a copy. He talked about being a teacher and loving the challenge of working with a wide range of ages. He mentioned being a baseball fan and that he likes history and the arts. He seemed “normal” and normal is good, great. His profile was well-written, informative, and interesting.

Having nothing to lose, I sent him a “wink” in return and figured that was the end of that.

Sal’s Story

Sal's match profile pic

So I was on the computer doing my daily routine…checking out my daily matches on match.com.  I would normally get 5 to 6 matches a night, and would have to check either “I’m interested,” “I’m not interested,” or “Maybe.”  Really exciting stuff.  So I read through the profiles and checked “I’m interested” on Dana’s profile.  I expected to be blown off by a beautiful woman once again.

I’d been on sooo many bad online dates.  There was the girl who incessantly picked at the scab on her chin.  One girl was legally blind, and brought her driver to sit through the whole date.  FUN!  One girl, before our date, called me drunk from the Pittsburgh/Indianapolis game in Indiana…on the toilet (and yes, I ended up going out with her anyway…talk about desperate!).  The girl just before Dana, now known to us as the “Shoe Lady,” took me through a shoe store on our first date…evidently trying to get me to buy her those $300 pumps. 

So I was a little surprised when Dana “winked” almost immediately after I had clicked “interested”.  She was very cute, and could even spell and form complete sentences.  At the time I thought that was a lot to expect from a Pennsylvanian.  I loved her smile and her sense of humor.  I was excited because I really hadn’t expected to hear from her.  So I emailed her.  I can’t remember exactly what I said…probably telling her of my obsession with baseball and love of playing the drums.  Typical stuff for my match emails.  If you want to know what I said, just ask her.  She has a mind like a steel trap.  Unbelievable.

So she wrote back.  And wrote a TON.  I knew she was a professional writer, but the more I heard about her, the more I liked.  She seemed very down-to-earth and fun (not full of herself).  I thought it would be really great to meet her.  The phone conversations were even longer than the emails –  and yes, I talked just as much as she did.  Three and four hours at a time.  They were ridiculously long, but flew by.  My aunt and uncle stayed in my apartment for Thanksgiving, and pretty much accepted the fact that we’d be on the phone from 9 until whenever. 

We finally met the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  That’s when my world turned upside down.  To my surprise, all that time on match actually paid off.  I keep telling Dana we need to do a commercial for them!  No luck yet, but I’m working on her.