Many people have asked how we met, what happened, when, all the normal questions. We thought we might try to give some clarity on some of it, although we are not completely sure ourselves. We were both signed up on a dating site and not having any worthy contacts.

Diane: I had decided to close my account and forget the entire process of trying to find the right person. There are so many scam artists out there on those websites that I was disgusted and was OVER IT. Then I got this email that somebody was interested, but I thought I had closed my account, so I didn't understand how he could have sent me an email. I checked further on my account and found a box I had not checked when I was trying to close my account, so it was still open. So, I sent a response to the email I had received, explained I was closing my account, if he really wanted to talk to me, he could contact me at my personal email address. I then checked the box and closed my account.

Chris: I had long ago given up on finding the right person and was just looking for someone that I could stand long enough to go to lunch with and maybe a movie. So many scams out there that I was very cautious to the point of having a fake name and email address that I had signed up with on this site. The scam is always the same "... I'm not meeting anyone on this site, but if you want to talk to me, here is my personal email address... " So I got this email that said she was responding to an email I had sent and then the scam line. It was a little different than normal scams since the email stated I had sent her an email, so I thought I should respond and let her know that I did not send her an email, but I hoped she had a nice day.

Diane: I get this email back from this guy that says he didn't send me an email, but he hoped I was having a good day. It seemed like an odd response, so I checked the original message and realized the site had sent me an email and said I might find this person interesting. I responded and explained the error and said if he wanted to communicate, he could email me.

Chris: So, I get this email back that explains how she received an email and thought it was me who sent it. So, I felt like this was different, and maybe not a scam so I went back to the site and tried to look her up but she had closed her account so I could see nothing about her. I thought at least I might get a pen pal out of this, so I responded, gave her my real name but still didn't give her my real email. We started emailing back and forth and I was getting ready to travel for business and she was getting ready for vacation. She suggested we meet before we both started traveling.

Diane: I know the scams from before and how they worked. When I would suggest we could meet, the guy would always be "away" for business. He told me that he was going to Chicago for business, so I thought, okay... here we go... I suggested we meet before he left. To my surprise he agreed easily, and a time and date was set. (Seasons 52 for those of you keeping track.)

Chris: I was surprised she wanted to meet since we had only been emailing for about a month, but I felt it was okay. She picked the location and we set a time, but I had no idea who I was meeting. She said she had seen my picture on the website, so I asked for a picture of her. Since she had closed her account, I was unable to see anything about her. She sent me a picture... now let me just say this about this picture... I have NEVER seen her look like the picture she sent me, and I would not even swear at this point that it actually was a picture of her. Let me just say it was not a good picture of her. I am convinced she wanted to know if I really was interested in her, or was I just interested because she might be pretty. I looked at the picture and thought to myself, "Well, I was only looking for someone to go to lunch with, so it is fine. We can be friends." I got to the restaurant and she told me she would be wearing red and sitting at the bar until I get there to get a table. I walked up to the only woman in red and asked if she was Diane. She looked nothing like the picture. She looked beautiful like she always does!

Diane: We sat at the bar and had some appetizers and then decided to sit at a table since the bar stools are less comfortable. We talked, and he held up his end of the conversation. That's the first hurdle for me... can I stand to talk to you or do inspire me to think, "Well, that's an hour of my life I can never get back"? He was a gentleman and walked me to my car, and we said goodnight, and he said he would contact me, but he didn't say when. He actually did follow through and sent me a text message and asked if I got home okay. He was the grounded, smart, good man I'd been looking for!

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