Summer Love Stories: Online Dating Led to my eRomance

I know what you're probably thinking when you picture the summer love stories that will occur in the upcoming months. Stolen kisses on the boardwalk, cool nights listening to crickets, or watching the sunset over the water. Last year, one of those summer love stories was mine.

But my personal story doesn't begin the way that most summer love stories do. It starts with my computer.

My silver Dell laptop became my comfort last summer after a string of bad dates.

One guy I couldn't stand unless I had at least 2 drinks in me. Right after I had finished telling him that I'm a full-time writer, another date told me, "I've never been a book person. I go in bookstores for the tea." Huh?

At least my silver Dell laptop was dependable. I could take it with me anywhere, to the coffee shop or my couch, and it would always do what I told it to.

That's the way that summer love stories shouldn't start, with a young, single girl browsing around Facebook, Foxnews, and every other website that could eat up her time while waiting for Mr. Could-Be-Perfect to call (that guy later told me that he "just didn't like phones").

My window-unit could barely cool down the hot July air and I was longing for relief when I happened upon eHarmony's ad for a free personality profile.

Here's what I needed! Something completely impersonal to tell me why I couldn't find the RIGHT guy! A computer wouldn't lie to me. Not my silver Dell laptop.

Even though it took me a couple of hours, I filled out the personality profile and had a good chuckle when it ended. I'm apparently an introvert who turns people off with her displays of emotion. Wow.

I was even more amused to find out that eHarmony immediately shows your matches after your personality profile is complete. What kind of loser would be so desperate to pay money to find a date, then fill out a bunch of phony "get to know you" questions to chat with them online?

And that's how I found myself driving through rain and hail one Saturday to meet a guy that I was compatible with on "29 different dimensions".

I had ended up joining eHarmony (the shame!) after seeing the profile of one cute doctor who was a non-smoker and wanted children. We hit it off on the phone, and he asked to meet me in a public place.

"This better be good," I thought to myself as I gritted my teeth and tried to see through the driving rain on I-270.

Summer love stories usually don't include a first date in pouring rain and hail at Chipotle Mexican Grill. But who needs a boardwalk or sunset anyway?

The doctor seemed surprisingly normal at first glance, and we compared sibling stories through mouthfuls of a massive Chipotle burrito. I tried to keep the pinto beans from spilling out onto my hands when he asked what my personal goals were.

Suddenly, the rain stopped and the sun came out. "Do you want to walk a little bit?" he asked awkwardly.

I agreed, even though it was a bit hard to walk in my heels and skirt (it couldn't hurt to look nice, right?). We settled on a dry bench outside of Chucky Cheese. The new setting seemed to take some of the pressure off, and we began to relax.

We found out that we loved the same kind of music, the same movies, the same jokes. He even goes into bookstores to read, not for the tea! How could a doctor and a writer be so compatible (on 29 different dimensions)?

On that first date, we spent 4 hours outside of Chucky Cheese, even while the sweat ran down my back from the August heat, children screamed for more games as their parents dragged them out to the car, and the wooden bench made indents in my rear end.

Most summer love stories end with a tearful goodbye and one last swim in the lake, but my story doesn't end the way that most summer love stories do.

My silver Dell laptop will miss me this summer. The doctor and I have been inseparable ever since that fateful August day. This summer, we're planning on starting a new life together.

I'm glad that my summer eRomance is still just beginning.