Sometimes online dating is discouraging. Sometimes you'll go on a string of bad dates and start to wonder if being a member of a site is even worth it at all. Sometimes you can feel overwhelmed and unsure of which person to contact and which person to pass by. People do find new friends and romance on dating sites. And these are real people, not individuals that appear in eHarmony commercials who look like actors and sound like they're reading off of a script. Star Maree is one of these people.
Star's Experience
Nine weeks ago Star hadn't had a date for seven month and she hadn't had a boyfriend in a year and a half. She is sometimes shy, so she found out that meeting people the traditional way for someone her age (college parties and school mixers) wasn't for her. After graduating from college, she saw a thread on a community forum about singles dating sites. One of the members had had a lot of luck and recommended a site that had a free trial period.
Signing up
Out of sheer curiosity, Star signed up. She put together a basic profile and uploaded a recent photo. Before she was even finished filling out her interests she had a new message. Star filled out the last of her profile then took a look at the message. When she accessed her inbox she saw that she didn't have one message, she had ten. Star was shocked. She figured that all of the messages were automated, but as she started answering them, she realized that the messages she had received were all from members that were currently online.
And that's how it all got started. Star began corresponding with several members and found out how the individual site worked and how to use all of its features. Eventually she felt comfortable enough to meet some of her matches. She went out on several dates and met some very nice men, but while she enjoying being in their company, something wasn't quite right.
The dating pool
Star was compatible with some men on paper, yet they had no chemistry. Some she really liked, but their lifestyle conflicted with hers. Others, she just plain wasn't interested in.
But after a plethora of messages and a handful of dates, Star met Shawn Burnette. He had been one of the first men to contact her and she had been messaging him back and forth for about three weeks. She was wary of dating him because he was two years younger than she was and she usually didn't date younger men. But she decided to meet him anyway, to see what he was like.
The first date with Shawn
Their first date was to go see a movie. When Star met Shawn her first thought was; "Wow, he's really tall." After being out on dates with several men who were her own height or only slightly taller, she realized that Shawn not only met, but at 6'4", surpassed her 6 foot rule. After they movie they spoke for a while and as it was getting late, Star asked Shawn to drive her back to her car, which was on the other side of the shopping complex where the movie theatre was situated.
Once they had arrived, Star gave Shawn a quick kiss on the lips before wishing him a good night and getting into her car. She had a good feeling about him. By the time their second date was finished, Star knew, this was the man that she wanted to be with. However, she knew that she has had a problem with becoming over involved with someone too quickly. She didn't want to repeat her past mistakes so she thought it best to not seal the deal yet.
The decision
She saw a few of the other men that she had been dating and kept in contact with them. But as she continued to communicate with them, she realized that some of their relationships were more like friendships and the ones that had become romantic paled in comparison with the attraction that she felt for Shawn.
On their third date, Star knew that she wanted to exclusively date him. And so they became a couple. She closed down her account the day that they made it official, but still remained friends with members who had communicated with her by means other than the site.
Conclusion
Through the website Star met some interesting people, some friends and, most importantly of all, her boyfriend. For Star, and for many others, internet sites give people a chance to meet individuals from their area and form all kinds of relationships, whether it's friendship, romance or an intimate encounter.
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