"Online Dancing"

A friend of mine told me the other day that he was signing up for some sort of online dating service. I was appalled. This to me seems like one of the dumbest things to do ever. I told him my opinion and he replied that everybody was doing it. Based on his assertion I asked some other friends of mine if they knew anyone signing up for online dating services and they said they did. Obviously it is the new way to meet people, especially for the younger generation.

Still I think it is creepy. I mean you can swear to be twenty-five years old, movie star handsome, and many other good things - on line. Yuk! Still maybe in this day and age it is the quickest and the safest way to go. You can correspond with someone a while before you actually meet them, and maybe these "dating services" do conduct some kind of screening.

I have never participated in an online dating service. They didn't even have such a thing when I was dating. We just sent a message by a dinosaur and waited for an answer. (ha ha) I have participated in certain "groups" online. The ones I have enjoyed are "writers groups" and I have to admit after you have e-mailed, blogged, or whatever with strangers for a while they actually become your friends.

One group I participate in has a woman in the group named Annie. She is a writer under the name of Luanne Jones and has had several books published (THE SOUTHERN COMFORTS and HEATHEN GIRLS). She always writes interesting posts on this group site and I had commented back and forth to her about different things. This was our only communication and I didn't know what she looked like but she did know me from my website.

Anyway this past weekend I went to Bowling Green, Kentucky for the "Southern Kentucky Book Festival." This is an event where you are in a huge hall with slews of other authors and you meet people and sign books. This goes on from ten in the morning until three in the afternoon.

Around noon a woman walked up to my table and said hello. Then she added, "You don't know who I am, do you?" 

My response was, "I'm sorry but I don't. Should I?"

She then held up a copy of THE SOUTHERN COMFORTS and said, "That's me."

I jumped up from my chair and raced around the table to give her a hug. I was so glad to meet her. She was just as warm and personable in person as she had seemed to be on line. We talked for several minutes and I even got to meet her husband and son. It was a real reunion.

Now when I "chat" on line with Annie I will know who she is and what she looks like. And I guess that is the way it happens for those people who set up dates on line. Still I would be much more eager to find a friend on line than to try to find a mate. 

Still the electronic age is here and communication has taken on a whole new meaning. You have to move with the times or be left behind in a cloud of dust.
 

 

 

 

 

©2007 Jackie K. Cooper

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