Success Story

I went to my friend, Susan's wedding reception on Friday, 11/11/11. She was married at 11 am, and although I wasn't there for the wedding itself, apparently my name was mentioned in the wedding ceremony. Years ago, Susan wanted to place an advertisement on some dating website. The horror of these websites is that you must post a picture of yourself. I discovered quite by accident that if you are leaning over something, like a counter, or desk, that all of the double chins disappear, making you look way younger. But how do you make that look natural?

Susan said, "I know just the place. We'll go take pictures of each other this weekend, and we'll each post an ad on Sunday evening. We can compare the responses we get, and weed out the ones who aren't serious."

I wasn't enthusiastic. I didn't think posting an ad was the best way to find the perfect man, but agreed just to be supportive. That weekend, we went to downtown Vancouver where Susan had found a post we could lean over, and in the background were the Columbia River and the I-5 bridge connecting Washington to Oregon. I brightened. With an interesting background, the men looking at the website would be less inclined to study the person, and more likely to check out the background. Perfect.

I posted my ad on Sunday, and Susan posted hers. Very quickly, she received some lovely responses, met with some nice gentlemen and finally settled on Stuart. He sent her roses, and chocolate, took her to the ballet, the symphony, antique shows, and eventually took her to Seattle to meet her daughter and son-in-law.

She removed her ad. She didn't need it anymore.

And now, years later, after a very long courtship, they are married. And, in the ceremony, they said they owe it all to me. He still has that picture she posted on his desk.

How sweet. I love a good success story. And theirs makes me smile.

I don't have her picture, but above is the one of me. Look at that nice background. And notice you can hardly see any of my chins? How did my ad go? Well, my first response was from a rodeo clown.

No, really.

The second response, I met the man for coffee. He tried to sell me some weight-loss program and, after an hour of trying to be polite, I finally picked up the check for the two coffees and said, "I'll pay for the coffee if you leave the tip."

He left a quarter.

I removed my ad too.