Shannon Baker shares about her previous dating woes.
When I’m having a bad day – or I guess recently, when I’ve had a bad DATE, I scoop up my little rescue dog and bury my face in the fur of his neck and breathe deep. He leans his head back against my shoulder and gazes into my eyes, assuring me that I’m not alone, that this love, at last, is requited.
Having been on more than 150 first dates, I’ve tried just about everything under the sun. Over the years, I’ve met men for coffee, gone for untold numbers of walks, and seen some truly terrible live shows. I had a blind date on Valentines Day once. And for a while, I took every first date to the same gelato shop, until the owner started to recognize me and I was afraid it was just a matter of time before he said something in front of one of my hapless suitors. I’ve tried all the dating sites and apps.
I’ve swiped left and right, winked, nudged, read thousands of messages that blur together in a sea of “nice pics” and “what’s up?”, and dragged several friends kicking and screaming into the whole adventure, as well.
They are all, of course, married to or living with the men they met within a month of creating their profiles. I am still single. But I like to joke that my most successful online dating experience was stumbling across Hamilton’s earnest little picture on Petfinder one summer afternoon, and thinking to myself that that was a dog I’d like to meet. He pried the doors of my heart open, introduced me to my neighbors, and got me moving my body again.