Susan and Darrell

Darrell answered my ad. I liked what he had to say about himself and what he was looking for in a mate, so I asked if he wanted to meet. He had mentioned that he liked kayaking and that he lived only a few minutes from a nice spot to paddle. So without reading his ad or seeing a picture of him, I asked if he'd like to take me kayaking. He agreed.

At the time I lived an hour away from him, so the evening of our first date, I hopped on my motorcycle and raced over to his house. I figured that if the date didn't go well, at least I would have a nice ride and this would give me a way out if things got weird.

Riding is also a big part of who I am, and I wanted this to be clear. I am not a stay at home, do nothing kind of gal. The right man would have to know and accept this.

I showed up to the island where he lives right on time but realized that I had forgotten his address and phone number. I rode around aimlessly for almost an hour thinking the whole time that he thought that I had stood him up. I felt so bad until he finally called me to see if things were okay. I quickly explained what had happened and met him a few minutes later at his house, where he had the kayak all ready to go.

Wow! Was he cute, too! I remember thinking how lucky I was. How could a guy sound so good in his emails and be so good looking?

We spent about two hours paddling around Lake Washington picking blackberries and getting to know each other. It was so nice! He really seemed like a man who could treat me like “one of the boys” while at play, but who also knew how to treat me like a lady.

After kayaking, we went out for sushi and then back to his house, where we talked until 11:00 p.m. Wow! What a great evening! Oh, a note to the women who are still dating... I found out later how impressed he was with my knowledge of the types of power tools that he had in his workshop (just a hint that might work for you, too).

One week later he gave me a key to his house. Oh, and he bought a motorcycle.

Three weeks later, I was moving in with him, and we were talking about our future together. Eight weeks later we were discussing how to tell our parents that we were going to get married. We realized that this might be a bit soon for friends and family to accept, so we have waited a bit. But I am flying down to California to put a deposit on a wedding band this week!

I can't believe that I really met the man of my dreams on an online dating site! Now that I have him, it really does seem like the best, safest, most efficient way to meet a man.

It only took two months to find him here, and I had been looking for three years. Thank you