Blind dates are common with your crowd. Your friends, who one-by-one are getting married, are “concerned” that your biological clock is ticking very fast, and you are becoming an “old maid”. The husband of the last friend who got married, John, has a brother, Jack, who is single and very available. You agree to meet Jack.
You’ve taken the plunge and are on your first blind date, the girls have set up for you. You are waiting at the door of a restaurant of his choice, for Jack, who you have been told, “has the cutest dimples anyone has ever seen on a guy”. What they didn’t tell you as the big guy comes walloping over is that he is 5′5″ and weighs over 300 pounds. You a 5′8″ and thin. As he walks over to you, you look down at him and smile.
The entre has not yet been served. His idea of an enlightened conversation is who will be in the final four. You are not into sports, but you listen politely hoping he will change the topic of conversation soon. When he doesn’t change the topic, but he pauses to catch his breath, you quickly begin talking about your job and how much you enjoy it.
You are so bored you begin thinking of how you could make as polite an exit as possible. Jack is a sweet guy and you two could be friends but you really don’t see thing going much beyond friendship. He seems to be very interested in you though, and you are happy that at least guys still find you attractive.
I assure you, my online dating experiences were very different from this. When I used to meet guys on-line, before I met my husband on-line, we would email back and forth, and talk over the phone as long as we wanted to, before physically meeting.
With on-line dating, you already know each other pretty well if you have been conversing for a while. When you do finally meet, you meet at a restaurant where the food is complementarily to both your tastes. You talk and laugh and are truly happy to be finally meeting after 2 months of conversing.
He runs marathons and loves history just like you do. You happily discuss the volunteer work that each of you is involved in. You look at your watch and discover that it is late, very late and you wonder happily, where has all the time gone.
There is a big difference between a well-intentioned friend setting you up and choosing a man for yourself who shares your interests and tastes, isn’t there?
Which scenario is better for you?