We met on Match.com about a month after a short friendship with someone I met on ChristianMingle.com. Although, that situation didn’t end well, I thought I would give online dating one more try and boy was I glad I did. I met you. I was on Match.com one day and I noticed that you looked at my profile. I decided to say hi to you through the Match.com app. I was pretty shy about reaching out to guys that I didn’t know, but what did I have to lose? The only thing that could happen was that you didn’t say hi back. To my surprise you sent me a reply and it wasn’t just hi. We began to talk and things got interesting pretty quickly.
Initially, I didn’t know how things would end up because you were very blunt and to the point and I really wasn’t used to that. I would ask you how your day was and you would respond, “It sucked.” I thought to myself, this guy has a bleak outlook on life, but then one day when we were chatting online about your job, you made me laugh. I said to myself, maybe he’s not so bad after all. You actually had a sense of humor.
We talked frequently via the Match.com app for about 3 weeks. We talked about how many children we had and their ages. Between the two of us, we had 4 boys. You also told me that you had a daughter, that you raised, but she wasn’t biologically yours. I really found that honorable. You told me that your children lived with you, but it wasn’t because their mother passed away. This also impressed me. It definitely wasn’t as common for the man to have full custody of his children. You asked me about my ex-husband and if he was involved in my children’s life. At the time he wasn’t and you were very upset by that. You just couldn’t understand why he wasn’t an active participant in the children’s life. I had some of the same thoughts, so this was a sensitive subject for me.
One day we were chatting on the Match.com app and you told me that you had many more stories to tell me about work and the horrors of online dating, but they would be easier to tell me over the phone. I figured that was your way of hinting that you wanted my phone number, so I finally gave it to you. I remember the first time you texted me, I responded and then asked who I was talking to. You responded, “It’s Thomas. Didn’t your mama teach you not to talk to strangers.” That made me laugh. I liked that you made me laugh. We progressed from texting to talking on the phone, but it took about a week. During our first call, you explained why you took so long to call me. You told me that you had been sick and you didn’t want me to hear your voice like that. Our very first conversation lasted for over 2 hours.
You told me so many stories about the horrific experiences you had with online dating. They were so funny but disturbing at the same time. It was a good thing I met you before hearing those type of stories because your stories made me question the process of online dating. I asked you why you opted for online dating. You were a very handsome and intelligent guy. You had a successful career as an Engineer at a great company. You could probably get any girl you wanted. You told me it was because you didn’t hang out at the typical places that would allow you to meet someone and there was definitely nobody at your job who you be interested in dating.