Just a Coupla April Fools

Today is April Fool’s Day, and no, I’m not going to try to trick you or anything else. I always thought April Fool’s jokes were, well, a little foolish. Yeah, okay, so that maybe deserves a “Duh, Jane…” (Okay, all together now…!)

The funny thing is that Vince and I had our first date on April 1st two years ago. (Insert joke here.) But it seems like a lifetime ago already, and it feels like we’ve known each other so much longer.

We met online – on MySpace – if you can believe it. I had just created a profile on MySpace and was just dipping my toe, so to speak, in the whole social networking arena. (Yeah, okay, I realize that was a mixed metaphor. Work with me here, people!)

Anyway, one Friday we had a big snowstorm and I was stuck inside all weekend and I wanted to talk to someone else from Columbus who was also stuck inside. Somehow I chose Vince. But, while he may have been stuck inside, he wasn’t manning his computer right then. I wrote a note in my goofy, chatty way and waited for a response so I could enter the Wonderful World of IM-ing. And…nothin’. He finally responded two days later after I had shoveled my way out of my driveway. Timing, eh?

Fortunately, he responded in a non-threatening way, so we started e-mailing each other. I was e-mailing other people, too, because I wasn’t really on a “meet my future husband online” quest. I wasn’t even really interested in dating – just in getting to know what the whole IM-chatting-MySpace-Facebook thing was all about.

And guess what I discovered? Some people on these sites are – gasp! – liars and stuff. Can you believe that?! I heard from scammers and men who were married but pretending they weren’t. Not only that, but then I’d hear from women I didn’t know who wrote to warn me about these scammers and married men. I thought the whole thing seemed a little seedy and sordid and made me question the entire social networking business. If I had truly been interested in actually going out with any of these men, I might have been upset, but I wasn’t exactly emotionally invested in any of these (quote) relationships (end quote).

All I could do was shake my head and wonder what had happened to people. Where, I wondered, had all the good, honest people gone? But, I figured if I was good and honest (relatively speaking, of course!), then I had to assume there were others out there, too.

And, yes, by Vince’s second e-mail he wanted to “close the deal” (as he says) and get me to agree to go on a date with him. Hey, he’s a car guy, that’s how they talk! Anyway, I told him (gently, I hope) that I wasn’t interested in dating. He didn’t seem like one, but I needed to find out if he was a scammer or a married man pretending he wasn’t.

He wasn’t. Just for the record.

Vince also wasn’t easily deterred. Apparently I wrote him an e-mail every day – and one day I didn’t. Guess I was busy that day or somethin’. He wrote me a very nice e-mail that evening saying how he really looked forward to my daily notes and hoped that all was well. So, ego-driven person that I am, I was diggin’ the fact that there was someone out there who enjoyed hearing from me.

Eventually, we moved on to actual IM chatting and then phone calls. And then, as April approached, he tried the ‘let’s go on a date’ thing again. And this time I accepted. Hey, I figured if it didn’t work out, we’d both get a funny “I went out with this joker on April Fool’s Day…” story out of it.

Life can be so unpredictable, can’t it? I mean, I could’ve chosen a dozen different people to write to on MySpace that snowy Friday. Why Vince? You could call it fate. You could call it luck. Whatever. We both call it a gift from God. And we are grateful.

So…Happy April Fool’s Day, everyone. And Happy Anniversary, Vince. I love you!