So me and the girlfriend (“C”) decide to go for a walk in a park that runs along Shoal Creek. Quite a nice walk, in fact. We were done around Getting A Bit Peckish Time (Noon). So we grabbed a table at a local restaurant.
Part way through the meal a nice “older” woman sat down at a table next to ours, ordered some coffee and perused her paper. As usual “C” and I were solving all the worlds problems and having a wonderful time doing so. Having spent 16 years of my life as a DJ (and all of them as a loudmouth) my voice tends to carry. Our neighbor (lets call her Marge) politely interjected a question pertaining to something I was talking about and soon C and Marge are chatting away like old friends.
Eventually we learned that she was there to meet a guy she met online and got stood up. We commiserated with her, revealing that is how we met. I offered a few pointers on how to keep your phone number private (Dial *67 before the number you are dialing) and other things.
C then asked what site she had met this guy on. Just curiosity, mind you. The ‘ol “keep the conversation going” routine. Something that C is very good at. She responded with a site neither of us had heard about so we just veered off on another track and were shortly on our way home.
Let me draw you a picture of Marge for you. A woman of about 60, give or take a few years. Average height, a tad overweight, short white hair, attractive. She was dressed well and spoke very well. Originally from Austin she had spent 30 years of her life in NYC, returning ten years ago to care for her ailing father.
So a rather nice (dare I say grandmotherly?) looking woman. Bright, intelligent, well spoken, you could easily say “elegant.” She actuallly reminded me a little of the lady who ran for governor in Texas recently, the Grandma For Governor.
Walking to the car I ask C if she had heard of that dating web site, she had not either. I have (or so I thought) been to most of the major players in the online dating game: match, matchmaker, eharmony, yahoo personals, etc. But had never heard of the one Marge mentioned. Getting home we make a bee line for the Mac and look up alt.com. Go ahead have a look. Specifically scroll through the “Looking for…” list. It’s pretty comprehensive. I think I learned a few new words.
We spent the better part of an hour reading the list and speculating what the lovely (nay, elegant) grandmotherly lady we had met earlier was into.
I’m glad I didn’t find out.