I appreciate my husband for many reasons. He's kind, funny, smart, talented and he's still here.
I appreciate my husband for many reasons. He's kind, funny, smart, talented and he's still here.
The latter is important because if he weren't, I would be single and you know what that means?
Yes, better night's sleep, less laundry and cracker boxes in the cupboard that actually have crackers in them. But while those are attractive, they don't outweigh the scary idea of dating.
I wonder, is there a personal ad code for bossy, opinionated, neat-freak, misanthropic, virgo woman?
So, where does someone find a date these days?
One guy I know is dating a woman half his age that he met at a dog park. "What do you talk about?" I asked him, unable to disguise my 40ish-woman-finds-an-older-friend-is-dating-a-woman-barely-old-enoug h-to-order-a-beer-in-Baltimore tone.
"Um, our dogs?" he said, adding she seems really mature for her age.
Translation: She's hot.
Another friend turned to a dating service to help make a love connection.
But soon he began to wonder if there were more women than men in the company's database as he was inundated with a steady stream of set-ups.
"It was exhausting," he said, sighing.
One friend embraced the online-dating world -- a world that has numerous specialty sites -- like a love life-preserver ring. In fact, his frequent dips into the online pool became known as his catch- and-release program. He never met his soulmate online, she instead appeared thanks to an introduction from his neighbours.
According to a woman I chat with at my gym, a rabbi at a wedding she attended told the assembled that the bride and groom had met on Lavalife. Apparently that's not shocking news, as the same rabbi told the wedding guests the majority of the people he has married in the last couple years have met via online dating or other services.
"It's rewarding we have lots of success stories, lots of happy clients," said relationship counsellor Rosalyn Dietz of Compatible Introductions (www.compatibleintroductions.supersites.ca). "Success for us means relationships, living together, getting married and kids."
So happy are her clients that Dietz reports that last year alone there were 36 marriages between Compatible Introductions clients.
Currently, Dietz's company has 6,500 registered clients, 1,800 of those active. To join, you are looking at a base rate of around $1,000.
"We are personal assistants for people's dating lives," says Jacquie Brownridge, the owner of the Vancouver outlet It's Just Lunch dating service (www.itsjustlunchvancouver.com). "We take care of everything. All they have to do is show up."
Brownridge, who has close to 1,500 members in her database, says that getting dating help is a no-brainer.
"They outsource other parts of their life, why not this," says Brownridge, whose service charges a $1,700 membership fee. "It's a strategic approach to meeting the one."
So who signs up for these services?
"We have all kinds of people," says Dietz. "But they are all looking for long-term relationships. They're not just into dating."
"There is no norm in this business," says Brownridge, who is excitedly waiting for the first It's Just Lunch baby to be born. "What they do have in common, though, is they're all busy. That's why companies like us are in business."
For tips on dating go www.
0theprovince.com/doitbetter
Registered counsellor and co-owner of Compatible Introductions (personalized matchmaking and dating service) Rosalyn Dietz offers up some first date tips.
Do
- Make your partner feel comfortable
- Keep the conversation flowing
- Be an interesting date
- Be on time
- Be yourself
- Be confident
- Show respect to your date's suggestions
- Dress for the occasion
- Take time to listen
- Do focus on the person you are with
- Take a pro-active approach. It does not matter who calls who
Don't
- Talk exclusively about yourself
- Be late
- Talk about an ex-relationship at the first meeting
- Try to be something you are not
- Show disrespect for your partner's beliefs
- Forget to thank them for the date
- Ask too many personal questions
