In the fall of 2022, I found myself in the midst of the most trying, single phase of my life. On average, I went on no fewer than three dates per week in the hopes of finding my life partner. Each and every one of them resulted in disappointment.
I am grateful for my friends and family for supporting me through the trials and tribulations of Extreme Online Dating. To whom I lament, “You’re welcome for the entertainment.” At any rate, the loneliness had already begun to normalize, and I was considering the possibility that marriage just wasn’t in the cards for me.
Unbeknownst to me, I started talking to the love-of-my-life on Thursday, October 20th, 2022 at 9:06 PM. Following an enthusiastic exchange of text messages, we FaceTimed for as long as my iPhone battery would permit. I quickly suspected that there was something different – something special – about this person. We set a date for an in-person introduction in her hometown of Gainesville the following week. However, that first-date never did occur…
Regular FaceTime sessions continued into the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, my new interest asked if we could instead meet the following day at my house in Orlando. This made me very happy to hear - the idea of shortening the arduous wait from 48 hours to 24 hours made it much less trying on my patience.
On Sunday afternoon, I had a series of errands to complete before the scheduled meeting. Despite my best efforts to be ready for her arrival, she somehow beat me to my house. When I turned onto my block, I could see her Navy Blue, Subaru Outback idling out front. I could barely contain my excitement as I pulled into the driveway and parked my truck. When I made my approach across the front yard, I caught a peak of her through the passenger window and could see her pink frame sunglasses, luscious lips, and long brunette hair - all matching what I had seen in the pictures she messaged me. But when she got out of her car, she was more gorgeous than I could have ever imagined. It was there that Jessie and I kissed for the first time on Sunday, October 23rd at 3:06PM.
I had been online dating for a good year and honestly saw no end in site. There was always at least 1-2 things missing with the people that I was dating and they just didn't feel right. I was at a friend's house on a Thursday and I told her I was going to delete my dating profiles and move away, maybe to Cali or London or something.
I felt this need to reinvent myself and move on from Gainesville. As most people know, Gainesville was full of broken relationships and heartache and I felt like I was spinning on a hamster wheel running in a world that wasn't mine.
Well instead of deleting the apps right away, I decided to push my dating mileage range outside of Gainesville and then I deleted the app from my Home Screen. As most iPhone users know, the app is still findable using the good old search engine. Laying around that evening I thought "let me just open it one more time and see if anything surfaced outside of Gville".
And there was Joe.
His profile read that he was an animal lover and that his top two love languages were physical touch and quality time (two things I knew I needed). There also was a video of him playing the piano and singing. Well, we matched and that's when the conversation began.
We spent hours on the phone and on FaceTime and made plans for him to come meet me in Gainesville that next week on Tuesday. By time Saturday night came around, I was too impatient to wait until Tuesday. Since I had Sunday and Monday off from work, I decided to drive myself to Orlando to meet him. I arrived at his house just before he did and he pulled up next to me in his Gator Blue Toyota Tacoma with a huge smile on his face and full of joy. He parked and got out of the truck. We walked towards each other with open arms and kissed for the first time. Then we hugged and it was in that moment that I knew this guy was something special. He made me feel welcomed, appreciated, and secure since day one.
Joe is my angel and I am forever grateful for the very bumpy road that has led me to him.