I got a call from a girlfriend yesterday. 

 

“I’ve got the ring. Come see.” 

 

I drove to her house and looked at her ring, which was extra-sparkly and beautiful, just like the girl who was wearing the ring. 

 

The couple met on a dating site. When they started messaging back and forth online, they realized they had quite a few things in common. Their mothers were in the same book club and he had the same name as her brother. Once she determined that he wasn’t her brother, the two agreed to meet and started dating almost immediately. 

 

Three years later, they got engaged. 

 

According to the woman who just got engaged, “It’s a safe, comfortable way to start conversations online as opposed to the bar scene which is the exact opposite. Sometimes you’re pleasantly surprised when you meet someone from a dating site if their profile actually lives up to your expectations. If your flirting skills are rusty or non-existent, it’s the best way to start out dating. You don’t have to have any lines. There’s no sleeze factor. There’s no getting hit on at last call at a bar at 2am by a desperate, inebriated lonely guy.” 

 

 

 

They aren’t the only couple that I know who met on a dating site. Another couple I know met on a dating site, but they both tell everyone that they met playing softball. That’s sort of the truth; their first date was at the batting cages and they later played on the same softball team. I imagine that he was able to get a little more touchy-feely a little more quickly as he showed her the ropes at the batting cages, but I’m not sure as I didn’t ask for all of the details. (You have to keep some things personal, after all.)

 

The couple is happily married now. 

 

I hear lots of stories about other couples meeting on dating sites; most of them are anecdotal and it’s difficult to say with any certainty whether or not the stories or true. Usually, the talk of these couples sounds something like:

 

So-and-so just went to a wedding in Hawaii. The couple met on Match. 

 

In most cases, I don’t know so-and-so well enough to tell if they are lying or not, so I can’t say with any certainty whether or not whether a couple got married or not, let alone whether or not the couple met on a dating site or not. 

 

But it is possible to find love on dating sites.