All on paper

-Wants kids
-Tall
-Wants kids
-Smart
-Good with his hands
-Has a job
-Responsible
-Honest
-Knows how to treat a woman
-Family values
-Loves his mom
-Preferably out on his own
-Oh yea, Wants kids
-Wants a relationship that could lead to marriage
-Not a deal breaker if he is divorced
-Not a deal breaker if he has kids
-Loves animals

Everyone has a list of what they want their dream guy to be like, give or take. It's so easy to write all of that stuff in, fill in the blanks, pull down the drop box, and rate importance when it comes to looking for your future husband...online. No one knew what I was doing. I decided to make a profile on cupid dot com. I didnt expect anything to come from it, and just like most of you, I thought child predators and rapists were looking for their next victim on these types of things. Against my better judgment, I signed up. I never paid for a membership. I set up my account of who I was, my hobbies, what I liked to do and what I wanted my guy to be like. Because I didnt pay for a membership, all that I was allowed to do was look at other mens profiles and "flirt", or send a smiley face to them to let them know that I was interested. All it took was one to be a member, then they could send a message to the one who didnt pay and then the person could reply back. This is how it all started...

Around the end of July, beginning of August of 2006, I received a message from bkc1122. I dont remember really what was said except that he gave me his number and asked me to call him if I was interested. I freaked. Of course there was no picture of him to go by and now it was obvious he had seen my picture. "Oh. My. Gosh. someone repied. Is he a rapist? Is he going to abduct me? Is he really 26 years old? Is he really from Durham? What do I do? Do I tell anyone?" all of this ran through my head, pretty much all at once. The room starting closing in. I remember my heart racing, I couldn't breathe, and if 78degrees at my grandparents house wasnt hot enough, it felt even hotter.

As I sat in my grandparents living room that night, all alone, with only the light of the computer screen illuminating the room, I decided to write back...


To be continued...