louiethelamb.com

I decided recently that enough time had passed since my divorce and it was time to meet someone; nothing serious just something different, as Keithie would say. My decision to try online dating coincided with my buddy Tarnya’s wedding invitation, which marks a union that started on the site e-Harmony.

I tried to explain how it worked to Keithie last night but he just couldn’t get his head around why anyone would pay money to be meet someone that they could just as easily meet in the pub.

So, I reminded him about the pretty girl who walked into Swansea’s pub (which burned down in 2002) 50 years earlier and how he and his mates surreptitiously watched her all night, too scared to make a move.

“Do you still think it’s easy?”

Keithie had the decency to blush but he still couldn’t come at the idea of answering a series of questions and then waiting to see if there was someone out there who liked the sound of him enough to start a conversation.

“I would only talk to the blonde ones,” Keithie announced.

“Julia Gillard’s not blonde?”

“But she’s nice.” Keithie smiled so sweetly I wanted to hug him.

Anyway, I signed up and within a day I had attracted quite a bit of interest; I was instantly flattered and started reading through the profiles. A couple of hours later I was feeling pretty dismayed not so much with the quality of the talent pool but with my reaction to all these potential suitors.

To be honest, I couldn’t believe how harshly I was willing to judge them:

“Five foot 4! Are you kidding?”

or

“What were you thinking when you posted that photo…I’d die before kissing that face.”

Or

“The spell checker’s there for a reason mate! Hmmm.”

Or

“Redhead! No way!”

Then I got a message from someone I liked, articulate, good looking, seemed confident and was five foot 9! So I replied and yeah, I might have gone on a bit but this felt like someone I could have a conversation with…a week later I’d heard nothing back.

So I called Tarnya who admitted she had to kiss a few frogs before she found Rob.

Despite her advice to persevere I was feeling the sting of rejection and the exhaustion of the emotional roller coaster ride, so I went off line for a while.

Then last night I decided to look in, tentatively, and found a message in my online inbox from someone who had taken the time to read my profile and construct a series of honest questions about whether or not I thought we might be compatible. Even though I was heartened, I decided not to reply, there’s a big age gap and I didn’t want to disappoint such a nice person.

I’ve also decided that while couples are increasingly finding love online, I’m gonna to take my chances back in the real world starting with Tarnya and Rob’s wedding in Vanuatu next month – although, I’m trying to figure out why Tarnya’s seated me at a table of gay men! Maybe its mother’s brain – she’s pregnant!