“Though I’ve never met her, I seemed to have fallen for her. I can’t imagine our relationship won’t work out.” I looked over to Buddy, Father’s Shetland sheepdog, and he seemed skeptical yet curious, like me.

The television announces that he and she are set to meet in just a week. I leaned back in my recliner, ready to see everything and nothing to happen. Neither of today’s online friends were particularly attractive or interesting, so it was difficult to imagine chemistry between the two of them. I have an advantage because I meet them both before they do. I was embarrassed and curious all at the same time. Why am I watching this stupid show…what is it called, “elove”? I know Buddy won’t tell anyone. He’d rather lick is own butt.

They were both simple people recovering from broken relationships, and wanted new romance and companionship. They met each other through an online dating service and have been in touch for almost a year. His photo is hung in her Montreal apartment, and she’s smiling on his ‘fridge in Nottingham, UK. I smiled almost as much as they did, reading over their shoulder, listening in ion their phone calls. I had to! It was really sweet seeing how much they liked each other. Look at that, she’s even become great friends with his mother.

To quote television from my childhood, “this just might be crazy enough to work.”

Before and after commercial breaks were videotaped personals of people just old enough not to get picked on by jocks or excluded by popular girls. I don’t want to be a jerk, but they sure were dorks. Their requests were not demanding or discriminating. I want to meet someone who likes to dress up to enjoy formal affairs. I am looking for someone who enjoys laughing and small romantic experiences together. I need a confident man who can hold a conversation, and hold me. But what happens when she who loves to dance is also obsessive compulsive? Or the man who can finally make her laugh also makes her cry?

I don’t know…the web is a tangled place to meet people.

In Ohio a couple weeks ago, a teen asked me what I thought of Internet relationships. I told her that God can move in mysterious ways and that maybe you could make a friend online, but I question how well people can get to know each other through emails and chatting. I told her that a friend of mine in college fell for a girl through all the cutesy company of AOL IM. Their relationship was a lonely-hearts club. The teen nodded, trying to understand. A young adult agreed, “people who fall for people online usually make the other person out to be their dream date because they never really have to meet them and be disappointed.” You fall in love with the idea of someone, not the real person.

But still there is a way for the millions of people to get to know each other without even leaving your house, and that’s cool. I mean, I was born and raised in a farmhouse, and the only girls I knew were the few in my tiny school. I was so happy when we got pen-pals in the fourth grade. It was my chance to get to know someone who didn’t share my pencil sharpener or ride my bus. But how can we realistically date people online?

You can line up resumes/spec’s and agree that these two people could and should be a match. I’ve tried that. Everyone in our high school did. What else was there to do in the backwoods? We all answered questions, that were would reveal our priorities and personality types. On Friday of that week, they published the results in the school newspaper. The school went wild. Every student grabbed a paper and scanned the results, hoping to get set up with their crush. I was matched with two girls I knew but wasn’t really friends with. We smiled at each other in the hall then chatted, a quick agreement that this just a silly thing for the school paper.

But then again, Jason matched up with Lauri, and Lauri matched up with Jason. That didn’t surprise anyone because they had been going out since freshman year. They graduating at the top of their class and went to college together. They married, and he is a dentist in my hometown.

Who knows?