Forward:
I'm a 39-year-old, successful bachelor. I'm an executive, an investor, and a player. I didn't set out with this goal in mind, but life has a way of sorting people out. This is where I ended up. The following is a trip through my growth from hapless passerby, to expert tactician in the world of online dating and some of my more interesting experiences over the last 20 months.
There were many more than 50 dates. At one time I had a new date, every day, for nearly a month. Even with the several times I focused on one woman or just took a break from it all, it's safe to say I easily broke into triple digits. A few times along the way, I totally fell in love. Not with any of my dates, but rather with courting women. The initial messaging, the exciting first impression, the laughs and flirting over dinner, and the build up to that first kiss, and more.
I'm really fucking good at it. I guess I had some skills to begin with, but they've been sharpened to a scalpels edge through repetition and a few mistakes along the way. I can date beautiful women, 5 at a time, with my eyes closed. I am a dating expert.
Background:
Long story short, life has taught me an important lesson: I cannot be trusted to love. If I fall in love, I completely lose my mind and every bit of sense I had along with it. It's forever with me, and I do not believe that I won't just end up fooled again. I'm so confident in this fact that I don't think I can really allow myself to ever do it again.
Out of pain I devoted my life to my career, hobbies, and interests. I stopped looking for any sort of relationship. I didn't even date for the longest time after my failed "forever" relationship in my early 30's, then I ebbed and flowed through hookups and the occasional short-term relationship. After a while it got tedious. I even stopped hitting on women. I just threw in the towel. I still fell into a one-night stand at the bar every now and again, but my 'love life' was officially dead.
My friends, family, and therapist have all been encouraging me to put myself out there for a long time. About two years ago, their harping began to take root. Maybe I was ready to date with a purpose. Maybe I could trust myself to love again. These thoughts grew and grew over the course of a few months.
Running into a buddy I hadn't seen in years really sealed the deal.
The Beginning:
"Are you on Tinder, bro?"
"No, I don't fuck with that stuff."
"You're missing out man. There's an endless supply of new pussy. It's like I'm at the bar hitting on 20 hot chicks every time I take a dump. It's magic."
"Well, that sounds romantic."
"There's apps for that too, if you want."
"I'm good."
"When's the last time you even had a girlfriend?"
"I dated a girl a while back."
"Months? Years?"
Shit, thinking to myself and running the numbers quick. It had been almost 6 years since I dated anyone seriouslyHeathanyoneanyonasdf. Sitting in that thought, I was sad that I pissed my life away with a handful of bar hookups and never a true, loving relationship. All the voices of, "you owe it to yourself to find someone" and "there's no reward without any risk" echoed in my head and I wondered if I was ready to take that chance again. I got to thinking that maybe I was ready to enter a real relationship again.
With Dave's help, I set up a dating profile that night at the bar.
I did nothing with it. Just sat on it. A few days later I opened it and had a few messages. It was the cantina scene from Star Wars - nobody I found remotely attractive, to say the least.
What exactly was Dave doing out there?
I decided to try my hand a swiping one evening. Tons of profiles of women my age, divorced with children, mostly. I didn't want kids. I mean, at one time I was in love and I did, but I was too old to be starting a family anyway. And someone else's kids? No thank you.
Where were the women without kids?
I played with the filters and opened up a broader age range, figuring I'd be more likely to find women without children if I looked well beyond women my own age range. 18-44. The low end seemed ridiculous, but what the hell? You never know.
I started swiping more over the next few days and started to get a response. To my surprise, I'm a total catch. There's a lot of women out there looking for a man just like me. Despite the apparent success, I still wasn't finding quite as many women I found attractive, so I bit the bullet and opened up my option to women with children.
As things progressed, I ended up removing all my filters outside of distance and age, and I held those pretty loose. I found out later that on some of the apps, if someone left something blank and you selected that as a preference, it would filter them out. I did my filtering while pooping, like a gentleman.
It all started off innocent enough, thinking maybe a relationship could be achieved. My mind went back and forth as I gained experience, but I just couldn't open up. When I felt I could, things didn't work out. The good news is, I found a rhythm and as Dave said, an endless supply of women looking to date a guy like me. Tons of lonely divorcees needing a good dick down to get over their ex and unfortunately, many who obviously couldn't handle being alone and were monkey-branching from one relationship to another back-to-back-to-back. Really pathetic.
There were some "never married"s, a handful of "just looking for fun"s, but most I found wanted something serious even if they acted otherwise. I was honest with everyone, but still hurt some feelings along the way unfortunately.
I had a few conversations going when Reyna popped up. My first, actual online date.
Date #1: Reyna the Shadow
A spicy little Latina in her early 30's. She was ok in the face, but had a nice thick little body. Short, squat, big ass and thighs, jet black hair and olive skin. She was sexy. We matched and she began messaging right away. Within an hour she asked for my number. Minutes later she called to "make sure I was real."
I appreciated how aggressive she was.
We agreed to meet that night for dinner. Some texting back and forth and it honestly felt really fun to flirt like this. Flirting with intention.
I was a little nervous when I pulled into the parking lot. I sent a text informing her that I arrived and she immediately replied saying she was at the light and was about to turn in.
A minute later, she pulled in and I stepped out of my truck to greet her. She was shorter than I expected, but her pictures on her profile were accurate. Though, I immediately noticed something was off.