Long Distance

What I learned from online dating Part 1

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When people ask how my husband and I met they are always surprised to hear that we met online.
They usually will say, “Wow! That’s really cool.” They may also say, “Usually I don’t think of online dating working out very well. Especially long-distance relationships. That’s cool that you could make it work.” My husband and I tell people that if we learned one thing from online dating it is that we took our time.

I wasn’t sure about online dating sites, but I just had a feeling that I needed to check it out. I sometimes would get a bunch of guys that were three or four times my age that would message me. Those messages always ended up in the trash unopened. There were some guys that would message me and only wanted to talk about themselves and never asked me questions. Then one day I got a message from the guy that is now my husband.

I saw that he was from Canada. That seemed kind of cool. I saw that there was a little bit of an age gap, but it didn’t bother me. I was mostly drawn to his face. Of course, he was very handsome, but as I looked at his face in those pictures I could just tell he was a very caring and kind guy. To this day he still is.
The other thing that drew me to him was that he asked me questions. He seemed to genuinely care about getting to know me. We chatted every so often. I would always get excited when I saw that I got a message from him. One day he asked for my email. He said that he wasn’t sure if he was going to renew his membership with the dating site, but he wanted to make sure we could keep in touch. I gave him my email. We maybe emailed two times and then I didn’t hear from him for about six months.

So what did I learn so far from online dating? Number one- don’t jump at the first person that messages you. Number two- Beware and be alert. Number three- have lots of pictures on your profile. One thing that my husband said was that he loved that I had lots of pictures up on my dating profile. That’s what drew him to me. And number four- some people are just bad at email. Wish I knew that before so I didn’t get mad at him later on when he finally did email me back. 🙂 But that is a story for Part 2 of “What I learned from online dating.”

-Jelly Jazz

Date Night Fun

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I went on a date night with my husband! It has been two years since we have been on an official date with no kids AND outside the house. We have had a few date nights at home. Those have been nice, but to go out and feel a bit of freedom was amazing.

We talked about a lot of different things and it was nice to have a conversation with him and not have any distractions. We love our kids and missed them on our date, but it is nice to get a break now and then. Who knows? It will probably be another two years until we can get out again.

My favorite topic that we talked about was when I brought up that I forgot to put back on my wedding rings after making some bread. He said jokingly, “Well that might make some people talk. Here we are on a date, you are pregnant and you don’t have on wedding rings.” We had a good laugh about it. Needless to say, I kept my wedding hand-covered for most of the date. Luckily there were not that many people in the restaurant that afternoon.

I told him later that night that we are different when it comes to going on dates, but not in a bad way. As boyfriend and girlfriend, our dates consisted of turning on our computers and talking with each other by camera. We did that almost every day. Why do you ask? Living in two different countries (which I will talk about in another blog) makes it difficult to go out to restaurants, movies, and other fancy places for dates. Not saying those are bad to do, but for us as a married couple now, I think that our previous dating style has stuck with us. We are ok not going out all the time. We are ok staying home and just talking with each other or playing games because that is what we did when we were dating. It is nice to have a break every once in a while and do something different and fun, but it is also ok with us to just stay home sometimes. Maybe we are boring, but it works for us.

Jelly Jazz