Unique or..?

A few years ago my fella and I went our separate ways. And you know how you feel when a relationship ends - a little lost, a little insignificant, a little like you just don't fit, and that no one gets you... and in a moment of boredom I decided to check out an online dating site. It was a really big dating site and at the time boasted a membership of about 8 million and an extensive, super scientific matching service.

Eight million, I thought, wow - surely there will be a handful of potential partners for me there! Surely to goodness out of 8 million members there will be at least fifty that I would be a good match with. At least fifty - maybe even a hundred or two who would get me and understand the world as I do... Well, I thought, give it a go and see what happens.

So I filled out all the questionnaires (which took about three days!) completed my profile, uploaded my picture, then sat back and waited to meet my matches!

I was nervous. I was excited. It was kind of like going to your first dance at high school and waiting for a boy to ask you to dance. For about three days I waited not so patiently for the match results to show up in my inbox...

Finally, the awaited email arrived. There it was in my inbox just waiting for me to click it open.

I stared at it as a dozen thoughts swirled in my head... I'm finally going to meet someone who understands me... Finally, after all these years (yeah - I'm not 25 anymore...) I'm going to meet someone who is similar to me... I'm finally going to meet someone who will appreciate my uniqueness! OMG - it was all I could do to quell the herd of butterflies flapping away in my tummy...

I clicked open the email, clicked the link to my members' area, waited for the page to load (very slowly as my old pc couldn't handle the graphics)... closed my eyes, held my breath, opened one eye to take a peek... and presto, like cyber-magic, there was the list of possible matches for me!!

Yes - there it was!! All the years of wondering about my perfect match... what he would look like, if he would be witty and creative, if he loved chocolate and red wine as much as I do, did he have children also... where about to come to an end, I was about to be introduced to some of the 8 million members worldwide that I would likely click with. Yes-siree, there they were... all three of my matches...

Three...

All three conveniently located in one spot...

None had pictures, two lived in Europe, one lived in Eastern Canada.

With a slow, quiet sigh, the butterflies escaped.

Three. Out of 8 million. I mean even if you consider that half of those 8 million members were likely female and would have been disqualified on gender alone - that still leaves 4 million... Three out of 4 million - not especially good stats.

I closed my browser window. Closed my email. Shut down my computer.

I began to wondered if I was really that unique, or just utterly hopeless?

But I didn't want to get bogged down with that line of questioning in case I began to lean towards the hopeless vote, so I began to think of all the perks of the single life that I was embarking on: What movie to watch - My choice! What's for dinner - My choice! Hey - does this look good on me? - You Betcha Baby!! Hmmm, can we really afford this new car? - Absolutely darling - we could get two if we really wanted them! Wanna go for a drive to my mother's? - Absolutely! I just spent $1200 on four pairs of shoes - are we good with that? - Darling, we can do anything to keep our feet happy.

Shoes... mmmm. I began to feel much better!