INTERNET DATES FROM HELL (22 page)

Subj:
THE BEST

Date: 09/22/2001 2:39:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Number One

To: Follow Your Soul

HELLO MY NAME IS ANDREW AND I LIKE YOUR PERSONAL. WRITE ME BACK IF YOU WANT TO GET TOGETHER.

Subj:
Paris

Date: 4/22/2000 6:37:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Craig

To: Follow Your Soul

My company is sending me to Europe, including Paris, the first week in June and to Japan the third week in June. So I plan to stay in Paris and fly on to Tokyo instead of flying back to California for a week.

I have enough frequent flyer miles to take you too. NOT two or three of you, just ONE. Don’t pout just tell me why you are so much better than I could possibly deserve that you will make me forget every other woman I’ve ever met plus my own name if it weren’t already embedded in my passport.

And I’ll see if I can get reservations at the Tour d’Argent, one of the two Guide Michelin four star restaurants in all of France. I was there some years ago, before I learned the joys of wine. I ordered
¡a specialite de la maison, le canard presse
[pressed duck]. “And what would you like to drink with your meal?”, asked the Parisian waiter (in English, since my French was not pure enough for him). “Why, I’ll have a glass of milk”, I replied. (As I said, I had not yet discovered the wonders of wine and I’d been raised pretty strictly.) “Sir”, he responded very formally, “I cannot serve you a glass of milk.” “Why not?”, I asked in astonishment. “Because sir, the duck would not like it!”

I want to go back, order
“le canard presse”
again, along with a bottle of Chateau Neuf du Pape, ‘78.

Wanna come with me?

Craig

In Closing
 

I am sure after reading some of these stories that you might have said to yourself, “She must have been crazy to continue dating on the Internet!” I actually questioned my own sanity from time to time throughout those six years of my life.

I think people truly don’t live their lives to the fullest if they always look at life rationally. Although almost all of these dates went wrong for one strange reason or another, and there were many other dates I went on that were quite ordinary, quite boring, and brought no connection with the other person.

Of course, those stories wouldn’t be an interesting read. But I am glad that I did not give up on Internet dating, or else I would never have met my husband and be where I am today.

I have always led my life with a quote that I coined when I was just a girl: “Follow your soul.” It is the soul that is your inner voice—the voice that speaks the truth.

I have learned that the present is a gift and should be cherished. Up until recently, I ignored the present and only hoped for the future.

Although I express time and time again in this book the desire to find a life partner, I want to make it clear it was not a need. A soul mate doesn’t complete you; he enhances you. Some people enjoy their solitude. It is perfectly acceptable to be by one’s self.

Finally, be true to yourself. The minute you start changing for another, you will realize that that person is not for you. The right person will love you exactly the way you are and have it no other way!