Bye Felipe

10/10/2017

online dating break up

You can’t choose

what stays and what fades

- Florence and the Machine

Bye Felipe
by Carrie Joyner

I’ll be honest. The trouble with love is that when you jump in, even if its half hearted and just on a free online dating site... you are still putting yourself out there-all jokes aside, you really are.

There is your picture/s the yesses and the no’s, the snap judgements. the elation of a match (if it’s one you really wanted) and the devastation if it’s a match that you accidentally swiped right on cause you were just on a swiping tear and meant to swipe left (trust me, it feels bad ignoring those guys, it feels mean).

Then you just feel bad not answering back to some people you just realize there is no connection with. There is seeing your exes on there that you can’t swipe left fast enough on...and then you see someone that you are like...hmmm....maybe, wait...yes.

That right swipe meant a lot to me those days. (The right swipes were no longer just handed out for thrills...I just wanted it to be a good match.)

So, Felipe and I (not his real name) matched. We chatted for about a month, which is unheard of on Tinder, even though most of our chatting was done on text or email after the first 2 days.

first date tips

He and I both have kids and tight schedules, so I found a hole in my schedule and asked him to meet me an hour and a half before my friend was supposed to show up for dinner at a restaurant. He quickly accepted.

When I met him, he was waiting at the table on the terrace where we had agreed to meet... just as he had promised, tall, handsome and well, attractive. We sat down, had a drink together, a great
conversation....it seemed perfect.

Then my friend arrived, sat down, we all chatted politely together for a minute and soon he politely stepped away and said good bye. I hugged him inside and thanked him for a nice date- no kiss on the lips...he just wanted to know when we could see each other again.

Tuesday made sense at the time so we set the date on the spot.

Everything seemed to be going well, but when Tuesday rolled around and I had a huge presentation to prepare for the next morning, I thought he would be really upset if I cancelled.

Quite the opposite- and this is where the red flags should have started going off. “Whatever I needed would work”...”No pressure”.

I thought I met the perfect man, what a chill date.

Wrong.

first date tips

Cut to us seeing each other for 5 weeks straight, I told him I got off Tinder (hint hint) and he just kind of swerves around that and asks when we are seeing each other again. (Red flag 2)

The last time we saw each other was probably the best time, so what came next was a bit of a shock. A private facebook message from a friend came in who asked if I was still dating Felipe. I said, no, I don’t think so seeing as I haven’t really heard much from him since the night my dog was dying/died a few days ago.

She said “oh, good”.

I asked why? Did she mean because his teeth weren’t perfect? (She was my friend who met me the night he and I first met the first time).

No! She said. He has been chatting/messaging one of her friends since a few days after he and I met. They are planning on meeting up soon.

WOW.

Now not to get into specifics, but when I tell a guy I got off a dating site, it’s because I consider us as dating/exclusive.

Clearly this was not the case here.

ethical non-monogamy

I get that dating on modern dating sites can be a grey area.

However, when you are with someone for over a month, should there not be a mention of the fact that you are just one of possibly many?

Then I started being thankful that he knew little/if nothing of my family, had never met my son...I had never met his family.

Sometimes, the lord works in mysterious ways.

This Thanks Giving, I know what I am grateful for.

Honest relationships, true friendships and family.

As for the rest....BYE, Felipe!

-Carrie Joyner