Frances is a 35-year-old communications specialist who lives in Parkdale. She likes reading, listening to music, and working out, and says that her friends would describe her as “warm, caring, and fun to be around.” After a few years of being single, on and off, and a five-year absence from Toronto, Frances decided to try online dating.
After moving back from the West Coast, I set up an online profile, just to see what Toronto men had to offer. I received a string of inquiries from all sorts of guys, but nothing was noteworthy. Then, a message caught my eye. It was from Peter.
He was clearly smart, clever, and had a pretty darn cute profile photo. We continued to exchange messages and then moved onto emails, which got longer and more detailed and started to include stories about our work, our families, our goals, and what types of music we loved. It seemed like we had a lot in common. After a few days of this, Peter sent me his phone number. I considered calling him, but wanted him to get in touch with me, so I sent mine. The phone rang right away and we had a marathon conversation; I’m pretty sure it lasted more than three hours. It was pretty amazing—very natural and easy. We made plans to meet up the next night for drinks.
I was nervous all day. I wondered what he really looked like, and if there was a chance he would be a total jerk in real life. I was definitely trying to keep my expectations low; I’ve had enough experiences of my own, and read enough Dating Diaries, to keep them that way. I threw back a glass of wine and ran out the door to meet him at a nearby cocktail lounge.
When Peter walked in, all I could see were his shoulders taking up the whole doorway. He was the definition of big and strong. He was dressed in shorts and a baseball hat, but I knew he would be coming from a game of ultimate frisbee, so I didn’t mind. I actually found it totally adorable. When he sat down, he gave me a box of chocolates, and I was hooked. I hugged him from the barstool I was sitting on and we just picked up where we left off during our phone chat.
We decided to sit outside since it was nice out. We sat in the sun, just looking at each other. He stared at me and asked, “What are you thinking?” I was actually thinking about how great it would be to kiss him, but I said, “Nothing” with a smile instead. He leaned right over the table and kissed me, like he read my mind.
There were sparks—fireworks, even. We finished our drinks and I practically dragged him back to my place. We had sex until eight o’clock the next morning and it was amazing. It turns out that, in addition to being the man of my dreams, Peter has crazy stamina. When he left, I knew I was done for. It was insanely magical and unreal.
On our second date, Peter told me that he was in love with me. A few months later, we got engaged. Hold strong, ladies: they’re out there.
Frances rates her date (out of 10): 10
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