My True Online Love Story

A True Online Love Story

Up until three years ago, I was skeptical of online dating. But last August, all that changed with one little IM.

Jordan39 was a NYC boy whose idea of a long-distance girlfriend was her Upper East to his Lower West. Brit-chick, hannah36, had just returned to her hometown after a few Manhattan-years. The logistics were clearly impractical…

…So, there I was, in late July, suffering the heat of Manhattan and the joys of being single in New York, when -- all of a sudden -- I looked around and all my friends seemed to be coupled up. I no longer had a gaggle of girls with whom to enjoy al fresco evenings and late saunters home. My cousin had a solution: sign on to an online dating website. I jeered at the thought. I have (or had) a whole host of reasons as to why I would never, ever date a guy I met online. But – and this was a big but – all my friends were doing it. This got me thinking: why, in our sophisticated, high-tech world, are us guys and gals reverting back to one of the earliest means to finding a mate: the matchmaker?

Determined to find out, I armed myself with digital pictures and launched hannah36 online.

I watched as the responses to my profile came in but remained cemented in the fear of agreeing to a date with any of these anonymous prospectives. A little late-night, lonely, online flirting was harmless but to actually meet one of these chaps and endure an evening with him? Oh no!

However, I continued the process to the amusement of family and friends who scoffed at my insistence that this was all in the name of research. I was adamant it was. And so, I continued on my mock voyage d’amour, tongue still firmly in cheek.

Yet one day in August something happened. No longer content with simply being on the receiving end of communication, I dove in and took the plunge. I ‘teased’ a fellow J-dater. The catch? He was still in New York while I was newly returned to my UK motherland. Undeterred, we continued with the emails and instant messages. To this day, I am not sure why.

Then we approached the first hurdle. The boy asked for my digits. I was caught in a Catch-22. My anti-online-dating morals and ‘beliefs’ screamed ‘Hold it right there!’ Yet something told me to take a leap of faith. So, with a couple taps of my fingers and a hit of the ‘return’ key I began to seal my fate (well, tempt it a little, at least). And as the emails became phone calls and as those chats became nightly, we finally arrived at hurdle numero dos: either we meet up or we forget it.
I put off an affirmative for as long as I could, weighing up the pros, cons and likely outcomes in my head. There were so many coincidences – too many to list – and this finally clinched it. Fate was clearly nudging me one way and I just had to hope it wasn’t into the arms of a psycho!
And so, here I was in my normal, humdrum, UK-existence, living some fabulously exciting New York escapade straight out of a movie script. The boy was traveling half way around the world to meet ME – the girl he “just had to meet!” And all this from a guy whose profile was “No Upper East Siders – too far to travel!” COME ON! I wasn’t just Upper East, I was 3,500 miles East!The big day – and my credit limit – crept up on me in no time. From this moment on, I can but try to do the story justice.We set our rendezvous for London; St. Pancras Station to be exact. He was so cool and I was a ball of nerves. We both, however, looked exactly like our pictures. One cab ride and a first kiss later, we arrived at My Hotel in Chelsea for some pre-dinner ‘nice to meet you’ drinks. We didn’t stop talking or laughing all night. Aside from the nerves it was as if we had known each other for years. It was just as I had hoped. And – dare I say it – more.The weekend was a whirl. I didn’t want Sunday to arrive. But by the end of our visit, I already knew I was beginning to fall head over heels with the handsome New Yorker; a feeling I knew was returned when he signed me off J-Date once and for all with a click on the “I’ve found my soul mate here” button.

And that, my dears, is how a little romantic spark ignited between hannah36: the girl who would never date a guy she met online, and Jordan39: the guy who swore he would never date a girl who lived farther up Manhattan than Midtown. The rest is a brief history that amounts to plenty of time on planes and some wonderful visits.
I’m sure many of you think this can’t possibly be true. We do, after all, live in an age of cynicism where romance and chivalry have been pronounced dead. Yet here I am, telling you that they aren’t; and with evidence, too. I know my tale won’t make the pill any easier to swallow, but this is actually the edited version. The truth is even too much for me! The moral of my story? Never say never again.

…/ To be continued.