Hopes up again

Just when I'm about to give up, the world drops an egg into my lap without breaking it.

I was exhausted and coughing yesterday, so I stayed home, moping about everything that happened last week and last weekend. My old Dell self-destructed, so the iBook has taken its place on my bed next to my pillow, in case I think of wondrous shit to write about at 1:00AM or something. During the mid-part of the afternoon, I got an email from Match.com, listing my new search hits for the week. One caught my eye immediately, and it has completely changed this week around.

I thought for a minute that my friends had actually MADE UP this profile just to screw with my head or something. There was no way anyone could be, at least on the screen, that perfect. A software developer who was also a highly talented vocalist, a pretty, dark-haired, green-eyed woman with classic good looks and... cats. In her 40s, never married, almost all the same likes and dislikes, and only a couple of dozen miles away.

It was impossible.

Nevertheless, I thought for an hour or two about what to say, then sent her an email.

This morning, before 6:00am, I heard back from her. I was the only one she's written back to out of all the responses she's gotten in the few days her profile was out there. And she could write just beautifully. One of her images is a classic 1930s-style studio shot, her in a low-backed burgundy velvet dress, looking very serious over her shoulder, all dark hair and green eyes and high cheekbones.

I'm getting all excited just telling YOU guys about it. My friends have threatened to beat me with sticks if I screw this up, so I suppose I should try not to. Women like this only come along once every 20 years or so, and in another 20 years I'll be too old to do anything about it.

A warning: you may or may not get all the details about what, if anything, happens. I am deliberately letting my hopes get raised, in spite of what happened with the horse lady a week ago. I need this. I want to feel optimistic. If this woman isn't right, I don't know who could be.