flipflop_diva

It sat in my email forever, waiting around to be activated. There was always a reason not to — too busy (I don’t want to activate a monthly subscription when I’m out of town for a week of it!), too scared (It’s not like I haven’t tried these dating services before. They never end well!), too many other excuses (It will cost money to date and I’ve been trying to save! It will be on weekends and I have other plans!)

But eventually the excuses I told myself ran out and the courage loomed over the fear, and I activated the membership, officially joining the world of online dating.

I didn’t have many expectations. It had been years since I’d last used a dating service. That one had been an in-person one. I’d gone in and interviewed with the woman who ran it and been guaranteed dates with at least ten men in a period of two months.

I’d had the dates all right, at restaurants I’d like to go back to, but with men I’d soon rather forget. I wasn’t convinced this time would be any different.

Plus I was happy. Most of the time anyway. I had my friends, my family, my dog. I didn’t need a man. I knew that.

But it didn’t mean I didn’t want one. That I didn’t sometimes dream about husbands and weddings and kids.

It was fun for the first day or two, reading all the various profiles and clicking on people who looked interesting, and even sending off a couple of greetings to a potential date or two, but the messages I started receiving left something to be desired.

“I’m looking for someone in the Austin area,” I wrote in my profile. Option number one lived in Denver and had no plans to move.

“I’m an editor for a newspaper,” I wrote in the career section, figuring people would understand I work with spelling and grammar on a daily basis. Option number two obviously didn’t understand. “hay beautiful,” the message read. “how r you to day”. I cringed. I just couldn’t do it.

Option three didn’t like to watch tv. Ever. That wasn’t going to work when I loved nights in, just hanging out on the couch.

The options kept coming. Some were better. I wrote a few back, they wrote me back, I wrote them back again, they disappeared into oblivion. I was beginning to think this was a useless endeavor.

And then I saw David.

I was scrolling through the people who had “winked” at me, basically saying they liked my photo, searching their profiles and reading what they’d written, Most weren’t anything special, but then there was this guy. A little nerdy, a lot cute. He liked movies and games and eating. Three of my favorite things.

I messaged him a long note and heard nothing.

I forgot about him and moved on. Until a few days later, when there was a message, longer than mine had been and detailed, telling me more about himself and apologizing for taking so long, but he had been out of town without an internet connection.

I wrote him back, he wrote back again, I answered for the third time, he offered an invitation.

“Maybe we can meet?” he asked.

We got together a few days later, at a Mexican restaurant I’d been to before. He was waiting for me, dressed in a blue shirt and khaki slacks. I slid into the booth and he told me I looked beautiful.

We ordered food and started talking. The conversation never stalled. We talked for hours, drinking margaritas and eating chips and queso and discussing our lives and our hobbies, our families and our dreams. We continued the date at the movie theater next door. He bought me popcorn and a soda and kept glancing at me throughout the movie.

We walked back across the parking lot to our cars, hand in hand.

“I’d like to see you again,” he said.

“I’d like that too,” I told him.

We said goodbye in the restaurant parking lot. I wanted to kiss him, but there were so many people around and it wasn’t really my idea of a romantic first kiss. So we settled for a hug.

He kissed me a few days later and it was worth the wait. Two weeks after that we made it official and closed our Match.com accounts.

A year later, we took our first trip together. I had a work trip in Orlando, so he came with me, went to visit friends while I worked, then came back to meet me when I was finished.

It had been a hard week. Work didn’t exactly go smoothly, and my dog was at the emergency vet in possible kidney failure, hundreds of miles away. It had happened the night before we flew out. David had gone with me to take her in when she got sick. He’d sat with me and held my hand and handed me tissues as I sobbed.

But by the time work ended for the week, I had good news. Fenway was going to make it. David and I went to Wizarding World of Harry Potter the next day to celebrate.

It was liking stepping into the books, into this magical world that only existed in this small space. We drank Butterbeer and bought wands and took pictures in front of Hogwarts castle. We rode dragons and walked down Diagon Alley and bought a batch of Chocolate Frogs.

“I want to show you something,” David told me after lunch. He took my hand and walked with me just past the entrance to Wizarding World. There was a small alcove, a place slightly hidden from the crowds roaming past.

He looked nervous, fidgeting a little. I stared at him inquisitively.

“I love you so much,” he finally said. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

He pulled a black box from his pocket, opened it up. Inside, a small diamond gleamed, the light bouncing off it.

“Will you marry me?”

Behind him, I could still see the crowds — little kids in wizards robes waving wands, parents holding hands with their children, friends walking in groups. I looked down at the ring, at David — the way he was looking at me, his eyes an invitation to a future that was just as magical as that moment.

I didn’t have to think about it.

“I will,” I said, and he slipped the ring on my finger as I kissed him for the first time as his fiancée.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed! This was written for Week 19 of