eHarmony trumps wife beaters and a Trans Am

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When I think about internet dating and the first dates that stemmed from the internet, I try to block out memories of my experiences right at the brain synapse where they begin so they can't haunt me in my dreams. Some highlights of first internet dates from my early 20s:

• There was the guy who was showing me around his basement after a date at a bad Mexican restaurant. It was lit with just one bare light bulb with a string hanging from it. He turned to me and said, "Hey! I could do anything to you, and no one would know where you were!" Then he laughed as though that were the funniest thing he'd ever come up with. I was out of there faster than a french fry in a Happy Meal.
• Another guy brought me a rose, and then we sat at a restaurant for three hours talking about his ex.
• The third guy said he'd meet me in the parking lot of a local department store. I was supposed to follow him in my (getaway) car to his next stop, a Bruce Willis concert. Up he drove replete with bad hair, mustard yellow Trans Am, and wife beaters covering the seats. As I followed him to our next stop, I "accidentally" took a right turn when he took a left.

So. Where were we?

When you think of internet dating you probably think of scary guys and desperate people: Not true! I have several friends who have met their matches on eHarmony, the premiere dating site for singles. eHarmony provides better first dates, allowing you to meet someone you can't wait to see again. The difference between eHarmony experiences and those experiences above (I did not use eHarmony, can you tell?) are that eHarmony has a selection process that helps choose those people that are best for you so you can have dates of higher quality. I would much rather have dated 3 princes than 20 frogs, wouldn't you?

Meet my friends Chris and Renae. They’ve been married for six years and just adopted their first child, Annie Hope, last May. Sit back with a cuppa Joe and read about Renae’s experience with eHarmony:

I started my membership in January 2004. and I was matched with Chris in September of 2004. Normally when I was matched with someone I would wait a little bit to see if they'd initiate the closed questions, but if they hadn't within a few days, I would. Each step can take a few minutes to a few days depending on schedules and how quickly each person responds. Most of the time it was anywhere from three to seven days. Chris and I went through the whole process in a few hours and were instant messaging via computer by later that night. It was kind of unreal.

We instant messaged off and on for a few days until I headed to Philly for 10 days to visit my girlfriend. I didn't log on to instant messaging for a couple of weeks. Toward the end of October I finally logged on again and saw Chris on there. I was thinking, "I'd better tell this guy I didn't fall off the face of the earth.'' Turns out Chris was thinking at the same time, "I don't want her to think I'm desperate; I'm going to wait for her to IM me first."

And I did. We IM'd for over three hours. Oy!

At the end of the night, I told him I couldn't spend 3 hours IMing like that every night, so we made plans to talk on the phone the next night. My girlfriend was there that night visiting when Chris called. I talked to him for a bit, then she talked to him for a bit and gave her blessing, and then he and I talked some more.

Three weeks later we met for the first time. I drove over to the same friend’s house, and he drove over from Michigan. Instead of flowers, he brought me a huge Hershey bar-um, Mr. Perfect! We went to a local restaurant, and while we were waiting for our table this couple got in a knock-down, drag-fight in front of us. Crazy! We spent the rest of the weekend together.

We got engaged less than three months later and married one year and six days after our first date. When you let eHarmony know that you got married as a result of their site, they send you this sweet commissioned bowl from Tiffany & Co.! If you look directly down on it, it looks like a bunch of intertwined hearts.


I would absolutely recommend eHarmony to a single person wanting to find "the one"! We have several friends in our extended circle who met their spouses on eHarmony after we recommended they try it. Chris is so perfect for me. He's patient, and we have a lot of qualities that complement each other. And one seriously funny thing-he wanted someone who didn't like roller coasters, and I was SO down with that!”

My last internet date was the day before I met Scott at a church singles group that met at the back of a bar. Were it not, I think I would have tried eHarmony. My parents would have breathed a sigh of relief! Ladies, Gents, step right up and choose the quality of eHarmony dates over the quantity of dates you could meet from other internet dating sites. Have awesome first dates with people selected with you in mind, and meet someone you can’t wait to see again and again!

eHarmony works!!

BlogHer and eHarmony are teaming up to offer one lucky reader a $100 Visa gift card. To be entered for a chance to win, leave a comment answering the following question:

• What is the most important character trait your partner must have and why?

Rules:

No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 2/14/2012 - 3/15/2012.

Visit the BlogHer.com eHarmony page to check out more blogger success stories and for more chances to win!