Dating Tales

Last winter a very close friend of mine named Abbie met a doctor online. He was perfect on paper, or should I say on computer screen. They were the same age, he was smart (obviously), he had a nicely written profile, and his pictures were cute.

After a couple of brief phone conversations they decided to meet at a popular bar after work. Immediately, Abbie was attracted. Not only was she on a date with a doctor, but he was hot.

Then he opened his mouth. Apparently he was more impressed with the fact that he was a doctor than she was. It’s all he could talk about. After 45 minutes Abbie was bored and thirsty. He was too busy thinking of more things he could say about himself to notice that she didn’t have a drink.

Finally, she grabbed her purse and motioned that she was going to the bar for a beverage. He says, “Yeah, vodka tonic for me. When you get back I’ll tell you about my 4:45 consult today. And you can put it all on my tab? It’s under Dr. Die.”

“Dr. Die,” she exclaimed! “Your name is Doctor Die. That’s not real. Really?”

It was real and she could not get over his name or her boredom. Her doctor dating adventure only lasted 58 minutes, but she’s glad she lived to tell the story.

Not all love stories are between people. Check out Christian the lion’s reunion with his former handlers. You might want to mute this one since the music is a little gag-a-rific.

A Dating Tales visitor recently sent me a query about the best online dating sites for divorced men and women in their 30s and 40s. There are dozens of options and resources that a simple Google search will reveal, but we here at DatingTales strongly recommend ThirtyPlusSingles.com.

This online dating site caters to mature adults, divorced or not, that are looking for serious relationships. They strongly discourage members from enrolling if they are just looking to “have fun.”

If what you want is to have that kind of fun, then Match.com is always a good choice. But then again, so are the bars.

One last thing, in my brief research for this post I did find an excellent blog post on “Dating after the divorce” at OnlineDatingMatches.com. It’s an interesting read both from an online dating expert and from a woman who is recently divorced. According to these authors, eHarmony is very popular among divorced singles. I’m not certain why that is the case, but it could be because of the anonymity or its faith-based mission.

Someone I know is busy planning a wedding and a new life with her husband-to-be. Listening to her talk about the details I feel overwhelmed for her. I’m surprised I haven’t found her huddled in more corners crying herself into sedation.

But no, she perseveres. Each day she crosses more and more things off her to do list and gets more and more excited for the big day. Despite the bummers of wedding planning, honeymoon planning (they are traveling the world for undecided amount of time), moving (did I mention they sold their condo so they can travel?), and managing their own businesses, the couple still seems really happy.

They laugh a lot. They love each other a lot. They are even nice to each other in front of other people sometimes…it’s weird and a little gross.

They started dating about 2 ½ years ago and are still unclear who kissed who first. They are that kind of couple. They fight about the things that are fun to fight about.

About six months into the relationship she knew that she loved him. She went online and found a gift for him to hint at it because there was no way she was going to say it first. She purchased a sterling silver fortune cookie and had the words “You will have good fortune in love” printed on the piece of paper that was tucked inside of the cookie.

She chose these words because of a text message he had sent her months before. He had lunch without her and that was the fortune he received.

Now fast forward a year and half. They are living together and both are very happy. It was a pretty typical night with nothing much going on out of the ordinary. She was watching Grey’s Anatomy on the couch and he was busy ordering Chinese take out.

After the meal he came from the kitchen holding two fortune cookies. He stood before her and opened his. His fortune read: “You will have good fortune in love.”

My friend was speechless. She couldn’t understand how the fortune cookie could actually say that (she’s very literal). Dumbfounded, she just sat there with her mouth open and staring back at him. He had a goofy smile on his face and she was busy trying to figure out what was going on (was he proposing?). He nudged her to open her fortune cookie and once she did she saw the words: “Will you marry me?”

By now he was on his knees in front of her, and he had pulled a tiny box out from beneath the couch.

Like so many people I know that have gotten engaged, she doesn’t really remember what she said or what happened next. She said it was surreal. He said that only seconds after she had the ring she was planning their wedding and trying to decide who to call first.

So now here they are. Colors are decided, fittings are done, the buffet is selected, and the guest list is finalized. What a love story.

I hope they have fortune cookies for dessert. I love those yummy things.

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