Yep! I tried it. The end.
Good story right?
No?
Okay…fine…
So in the area that I live in it is hard to met anyone at random. A lot of my friends have met their significant others online. So I thought I would give it a try. I had been set up and dated a guy who just wasn’t a very good fit. The first thing was for my roommate and I to set up rules for protection.
For example:
– When talking to someone online never give too much personal information. I would
even say wait a little while after meeting them in person before you share too too
much.
– When you decide to on meeting them write the person’s full name and phone number down for your roommate. As well as location of meet-up…try very hard not to choose a place you frequently go. If the date doesn’t go well there is a little less worry about randomly finding him at your favorite spot.
– My roommate and I even did a tracking app for our phones. She could see where I was going and I could even check in to location addresses.
– Check in on arrival to the meet up place and then again once you are leaving the location.
These rules may seem extreme but I would rather be careful than dead. My roommate and I were overly carful but I would say overall I think I had a good experience.
My stories:
First Guy:
The first guy, I agreed to meet in person, decided to stand me up. I never heard from him. He just vanished. Still to this day when something reminds my roommate of him she makes a disgusted/angry face and says his name. I am actually okay with that. If he didn’t want to show up then it must not have been meant to be. That was my first experience with online dating though. It kinda set up my outlook for the rest of my experiences. I had never been stood up before. If you believe me, going into the meet up I kinda felt like he wasn’t going to show. I brought a big book to read while I waiting for him. Decided to order coffee when I got there instead of possibly waiting for him to pay and I also got comfy into a chair. After waiting an hour (mostly because I was sipping coffee and reading a book). I left. I didn’t text him. Asking where he was. He would know where to get a hold of me if he wanted to. He never did.
Second Guy:
Oh the second guy. Well he showed up for the meet up so that was a step up from the first guy. When I arrived he was already there and drinking coffee (I am noticing a theme to the location of my meet-ups). I went up and said hi. He seemed very nervous. Kept staring at me but saying very little. I went and ordered my coffee. When I came back and sat down. Conversation felt like pulling teeth. He gave me a polished oyster shell as a gift. Which was a hobby of his. He talked on and on about living in a duplex owned by his parents and having his grandmother close by. He also talked about having a strong retirement plan. Not bad things just awkward moments after not wanting to talk about much else.
My goal for this date was to stay an hour. Once that hour hit I was ready to leave. But before I left he asked me….”Can I take a picture of you?” … Me: “Uhmmm nooo.” This defiantly weirded me out.
I stood up to throw away my trash…mind you I told him of this plan…I walked to the trash. When I turned around, I just saw a glimpse of him walking out the door. No goodbye nothing.
He later messaged me asking for advice on what went wrong. I simply said that we didn’t have a whole lot in common. He later messaged again and told me that I would never meet a guy who would love to travel as much as I did. I only talked about moving from Korea to Washington. For many of you reading you know that is only the beginning of my moving/traveling stories.
Third Guy:
After the first two guys going into this meet up the guy just had to show up, talk to me, and not ask to take a picture of me at the end of the date. I know high standards right?
Well I walked in to a cafe he had suggested. I had never been there. I was actually not that nervous. He was already sitting at a table with a coffee in hand. But he was there, CHECK! We talked for about 2 hours. Good conversation…though he talked A LOT. CHECK! He never once asked me if he could take a picture of me. CHECK!
All low standards aside, I had a really good time. Left smiling and feeling really good about the date. Fast forward eight months and we are still together. We have a whole lot of fun together. He cooks me dinner. We workout together. I created “read when” letters for him when he went underway (he is in the Navy…drawback in my eyes but I am working through it). We can have goofy conversations or serious talks and still end up laughing a lot. I make him avocado chocolate brownies just for fun. He gives me Barnes and Noble gift cards and then takes me to said bookstore just so I can wonder picking up books but never buying (because I can never decide just the right book to buy with a gift card…I don’t want to make a mistake). My friends like him and he likes them. We go bowling, to church, and have game nights together. He isn’t from around here so it is a lot of fun having such a great guy to go exploring the area with.
I was lucky to have met my boyfriend third into my online dating experience. Boy! Those first two were good enough for me, I was done by the third round. If he didn’t turn out to be who he was and is, I don’t know if I would have continued with online dating. It wasn’t a ton of fun for me talking to all these strangers but I am glad that I gave it a try when I did.
travelingwithroots.com 