Jason and I met on eHarmony, when I was 35. I had been focused on building my career over the last 12 years so didn’t put much effort into dating, which is why I was on dating sites for 10+ of those years, mostly match.com.
I moved on to eHarmony after a terrible match.com date where I agreed to meet a guy for a drink, thought things were going well conversationally and then after we'd finished that first cocktail he proceeded to ask “your place or mine”. I'm not sure where he got that impression based on the conversation we were having, so let him know that I was going to be staying to have another cocktail to enjoy the beautiful evening and then I was going home by myself. He then proceeded to pay our tab and then left me alone at the bar where I enjoyed my second cocktail by myself. You may be thinking, poor girl, but this is just one of my crazy online dating stories and happy to say that was officially the last match.com story I will ever have.
It took me a little while to get back on the dating horse. And, more than likely it happened on a Friday night when I was at home, after work and yoga, drinking wine, snuggling with George (my dog and most loyal companion for the last 10 years), and watching chick flicks. I chose eHarmony, a site that I had never tried before, hoping the cost would deter any "hook up lookers". For those that have never put together a profile on eHarmony, let me tell you that setting up your profile takes a while, so if you’re going to sign up, grab a bottle of wine and get ready to spend at least an hour, maybe 2, at your computer. But, in the end I obviously found the time spent to be well worth it. Before meeting Jason, I had three terrible eHarmony dates, with guys that the site matched me up with, and at high percentages, we'll call them the car salesman (literally), the drunk investment guy, and the "I’m going to talk about how much money I have and then ask you to go dutch" guy.
I was truly about to hang up my online dating shoes for good when I got a notification that "Jason" had sent me some questions. I thought “who is this guy” as he wasn’t listed as a match on any of my matches, but he had found me. For those that don’t know the eHarmony process, it starts with initiating contact by sending someone 3 questions, and if you’re interested, you answer those questions and send 3 questions back to that individual and the process goes from there. Jason wasn’t anything like my “type”, he was blond (looked like a surfer dude and still does in the summer) and had a child, which I was not in a hurry to sign up for after my last relationship. I had dated a guy with children that ended badly and couldn't bear putting myself in the situation of bonding with a child or children again just to get my heart broken again.
But, Jason's sense of humor and personality won me over and we started to talk, eventually agreeing to a date. We were both traveling for Christmas so agreed to get together when we got back. Which we did, LITERALLY, the day we got back, it was a Saturday night. I agreed to dinner with him even though I rarely agreed to dinner, as that is a no-no for a first online date, because if you decided you don't like the guy then you're stuck with them through an entire meal and may end up paying for half the bill. Anyway, we agreed to meet in the "middle" and decided on BoneFish Grill. I got there first and was seated, they brought him to me and I can honestly say that I felt something different the moment I saw him. He was tall, handsome, well-dressed, had a great smile and beautiful blue eyes. He greeted me with a hug and after some small talk asked if I wanted to get a bottle of wine. We shared a bottle of wine, a fabulous dinner with wonderful conversation and neither of us wanted the night to end so he suggested going for a nightcap. We had a nightcap at a restaurant close by and then decided we should probably head home. He gave me a sweet kiss good bye and I think I smiled all the way home. It had been the best first date in a very long time.
The following day I got a fun surprise at home. He had sent some chocolate covered strawberries and a sweet note. I knew Jason was different, I just felt it and was just very excited to get to know him and see where this would go. And, that's the start of our love story.
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