This was my first internet date ever. Way back in the days when LavaLife was the place to be, and I (and nobody else) had heard of Plenty of Fish.
Shortly on the site, the chat function, getting messages from a user without a profile picture. I'm new, I'm gullible, I don't care. She assures me that she's beautiful, and I don't doubt it, who lies about this stuff?
We arrange a meeting at Ming, bar downtown on 17th Avenue. Never been before, never been since. A classic blind date, I have no idea who I'm looking for. Fortunately the bar is deserted, a snowy winter's eve, she finds me.
And we chat. About nothing and everything, she's just out of a bad marriage, her and her husband own an oilfield services company, she's a figure in the industry and doesn't want her picture to be seen....
She is beautiful, long curly blonde hair, a fit, but curvy figure...
This will forever taint my online dating experience, and I will forever believe people when they describe themselves to me. My gullibility is the proof of my good nature and intentions...
The bar closes and I drive her home. In my beat up dodge charger, her house, a 6 bedroom home...sorry, castle in Mount Royal. And we kiss a bit in the car and I've a feeling I should be seeing her to the door, safely inside, but ... well, I work in Tech support, and have to be up at 4:00 AM, and there's the feeling - not just the beauty, but the house, the money - that I'm out of my league.
It's a good date, a great date, not a get-lucky story, and in hindsight I almost don't wonder if she was a plant by the WWW to ensure that people continued to meet through the interwebs and not in real life...