One year ago today, John received a message from me that I was unaware I’d even sent. After becoming somewhat disenchanted with American men, late one night I used Google to find an online dating site in the United Kingdom. I’d long had a passion for the western highlands of Scotland so it was a natural curiosity that prompted a look towards the island of my ancestors. After reviewing the five profiles allowed without a membership, I signed for up three days with Guardian Soulmates and quickly put together a profile so I could access the dating site without restrictions. It didn’t take long to read through the profiles of the men that were sent for review based on qualities I’d identified as important. Once done with those, I opened up some of the restrictions to see who else might look interesting and had about 100 profiles to browse through right away. It was in this group that John showed up.

His picture was very appealing and his profile, while well written, had one statement that made him stand out for me more than any other. What he said was, “I would like to meet someone whose attitude to life is positive, who shares my values or at least understands them. Above all someone for whom the concept of 'one's own space' is not alien !”  It was the “one’s own space” that drew my attention and it so resonated with me that I clicked on save to favorites so I could come back and take a second look at him later after I’d gone through the rest of the lot.

If I’d read the directions when I created my profile, I would have known that by clicking on save to favorites, it would him a message saying he had a fan. Now, imagine my face a bit later when I received a message back from John expressing an interest in communicating through email after he’d gotten my “fan” mail. Even though I found him very attractive in many ways, I don’t think I would have ever sent him a direct message. It’s not really my way and as I said, I was just looking.

While my tendency has long been to skip directions when perhaps I should read them, in this instance, not reading the directions that day was the best thing I ever did. The only exception  being when I clicked send and emailed him the response that gave us a chance to get to know each other.

If you remember what I said in the first sentence, “One year ago today...”  That’s right, today is special because it’s the anniversary of the day we met ...online anyway. There are good and bad stories of people who’ve met online and ours is just one of many. In our case however, we are proof that there are no accidents and when you’re ready, you might meet someone just right for you.

Perhaps a soul mate even....if you stay open to possibility...and oh yeah, skip the directions once in a while.

John’s profile picture as it was on Soulmates.