I think I have seen/heard way too many ads for e-harmony--that mate-finding website with the big compatability quiz. I'm glad I didn't need it. I found my husband on Yahoo Personals. And no I was not looking for easy sex. All I wanted, and I was very specific about this in my ad, was an adult of the opposite gender to occasionally go out to dinner with, and maybe a movie now and then. An opportunity for adult, non-Barney the purple dinosaur conversation with someone besides my parents (love you guys to death, but......). His ad was basically the same. He happened to answer mine first, after we each had a few false starts in dating others after our respective divorces---which just for honesty's sake, yes we instigated our divorce actions against our ex's after they refused to change the behaviors that were harming the marriage, and no we did not meet each other or even think about being with someone else until after our divorces were final. Yahoo was free, so was Messenger and email, and we set the boundaries we were comfortable with--which were basically my boundaries and were pretty strict. It turned out that we lived about 5 miles apart, and had I not changed schools in 7th grade, we would have attended the same high school and graduated just a year apart. Of course, like I have told him, my folks wouldn't have let him near me in high school---I was the good girl with the good grades and high ambitions for my future, and my folks wouldn't have considered him to "fit the bill" of the kind of guy I should date. Not that it would have been the first time I dated someone they may not have approved of, but by then I was an adult.
Anyway, we emailed and IM'd and later phoned each other and then met in a very public place. We don;t agree on 100% of everything, but then again I think that would make for a very boring relationship. The biggest thing we agree on is to respect each other's opinions, and not make the other feel foolish or afraid to voice our opinions. We agree on most things political and religious, somewhat less on child rearing and discipline, but not to the point where we fight about it--we back each other up and then take the discussion on what we disagree on to a private area away from the kids so we can present a united front. Sometimes we disagree on what is a priority in our household or relationship, but we can discuss it rationally most of the time, and when we can;t, we take a cooling off period or go ahead and get it out of our systems and then make up.
When two people are rational adults, who needs a compatibility test? Isn't that just so high-school?
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