by Jenn Plant
With all of the upcoming fall festivals, there are so many exciting places to visit in this area. Apple picking, pumpkin patches, haunted houses and corn mazes are abundant this time of year. My daughter and I absolutely adore autumn and all the baking, cooking and decorating that goes along with it. In fact, we’ve already baked two apple pies and we are working on perfecting our white chicken chili recipe for the next cool night.

I would love to have someone to share this time of year of with so I signed up for an online dating account. It’s a free site that claims it’s the “best dating site on Earth” and the “Google of online dating”. I uploaded a few photos of myself, answered almost 600 of their personality questions (I answer them, a few at a time, while I’m lying in bed waiting for the insomnia to go away) and wrote a fairly cute and quite accurate self-summary. And then the waiting game begins. The site matches you with potential suitors according to your answers to the personality questions. And you can filter thru the matches based on age, location, etc. etc. etc. In the three weeks my account has been active; I’ve been contacted over 30 times.

It’s kind of exhilarating to open up the website and see your little inbox lit up in pink meaning you have new messages waiting to be read. Granted, a few of the messages were asking me what kind of panties I was wearing or if I’d be willing to stop by a complete strangers house for a quickie. Right…. Let me just get right on that. Honestly, do women fall into that trap? Does that actually work for some men?

I received a message from a guy (we’ll call him Forrest) whose message was so silly, I couldn’t help but respond. We have been talking via text and phone calls almost every day since he first contacted me. We are meeting next Saturday. Out of all the other men that have written to me on the site, I’m pretty excited about this one.  He’s a father of two and the chef manager at a retirement community. That speaks volumes to me about his personality and demeanor. He’s also managed to dodge all of my absolute “deal-breakers”. Not to mention, he has incredible blue eyes, makes me laugh all the time and hello, did I mention he can cook? Oh and he’s kind of handy. What’s not like?

I am trying not to get too wrapped up in the excitement of meeting someone new. But the thought of spending a chilly afternoon up on Skyline Drive drinking warm apple cider gives me just a few butterflies in my belly. Who knows where next Saturday will take me? I’m really looking forward to finding out.