Terry’s Story, continued again

 

February 4, 2026

So, then it was just me.

And that was fine, for a while. Because if there was a Hall of Fame for introverts, I would certainly be a first ballot inductee. Sorry, baseball language. What I mean to say is that I prefer my own company. I am content to be by myself.

My well-meaning friends had other ideas. They believed I should “get back out there.”

In my mind I argued, it had always been Terry and Liz, for over forty years. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I’m not into the bar scene. I’m not even much of a conversationalist. Heck, Liz was the only woman I’d even dated.

And yet, I knew Liz would want me to, just as I would have wanted her to. In fact, we had several conversations over such a scenario as that. We both wanted each other to be happy. Those talks became more frequent the closer Liz came to the end. Carry on, be happy.

I was still uneasy about the idea. What would people think? What would they say? How would I even go about it?

And then one day, a friend suggested I do it online. Just set up an account on a dating website. Everybody’s doing it these days or, so I was told.

Isn’t that for losers? I thought to myself. Sounded risky to me. But it would be nice to have a new friend. . . someone to do stuff with, talk to occasionally, maybe go to a game with.

I looked into several sites and finally chose one that had a Christian name. It would be wonderful if she shared my faith, I thought.

So, I put together my profile, being as authentic and honest as possible. (I truly thought I was 5’6”, but that’s another story!) I posted some photos and my bio and BAM! The craziness began!

It did not take long for the “wackadoodles” to find me. Women from other states who would “love to meet me” but could I first “send them money for a plane or bus ticket.” Women who were covered with so many tattoos and body piercings, they were unrecognizable.

Did they even read my profile? I wondered, as the website continued to send me notifications on women they suggested would be a good fit for me. I had nothing in common with these people!

I dug deeper into the site and happened to find a profile who matched 70% of my interests. Yet somehow the site hadn’t sent me her information. Her name was Becca. I dropped her a message, “Hi.” But there was no reply, just crickets.

But the wackadoodles kept coming, in droves. . . DELETE—DELETE—DELETE.

A few days later, the site finally suggested Becca, the 70% match. I shrugged and sent her another message, a smiley face emoji. What did I have to lose at this point?

Still no reply. Nothing but crickets.

Frustrated with my results, I decided I needed to trust God do His thing. If He has someone in mind for my future, He will bring us together. His timing, not mine.

And so, as I was moving my cursor to hit “delete my account”, another message came through. Another wackadoodle, I thought. But my cursor moved to read the final message. . . it was Becca!!