I didn't know for sure what I was getting myself into when I tried online dating. I've heard good stories and bad and I decided to take a risk.
My first one I signed up for that was absolutely free was waplog. It wasn't too bad. It had the normal...add photos, message, edit profile, blah, blah, blah. But the guys that had seen my profile or wanted to chat was either too young, or creepy looking. And I am not racist but there was alot of Hispanics.
I would go online a few times a week to check my messages and find friends. There was really nothing out of the ordinary. One day, a handsome guy popped up and messaged me. He said his name was Richard Jones and we began chatting. Soon enough, I did (and regret now) gave him my phone number. He texted me from a 361 area code (which is Corpus Christi, Victoria, Yoakum, and surrounding areas.) I was quite thrilled because he was closer than I had expected. He was the tall, dark and handsome kind with brown hair, brown eyes, straight and perfect teeth, and a four year old daughter by the name of Mandy. That came as a surprise when he texted me. He was asking me constantly "do you trust me?" Of course I am stubborn and naive so I said "yes." I didn't really care that he had a daughter. As long as he was a good father and decent, I didn't care about dating a single father online.
As the week went by, he refused to call and Skype. I Facebook messaged my sister, Marianne who lives in Washington State. She came back with some horrible news. Her close friend did a Google image search and found that he was a scam. I didn't want to believe it. So I called up my best guy friend, David whom I met when I spent my time at Camp Humpreys, South Korea. He had also done a Google image search and the same thing. I emailed Richard, confronted him and he denied it. So I believed him.
Within the week, he still did not call but I was in love. Within three days of meeting he loved me. I really didn't think anything of it at first and later on, when I did the Google search for catfish signs, he had obtained every single one of them. Again, I confronted him and he denied it.
In the midst of trying to break it off with Richard, I spent my time downloading Skout, Tagged, and Black Planet.
About the same time that I was trying to break it off with Richard, even though I really didn't want to, another good looking guy messaged me. His name was Gary Edwards. Within a day he had asked for my phone number. I was hesitant at first and messaged him in the rudest way possible.
What makes you think I am going to give out my number to you? I had just been scammed and I really don't want to give out my number to guys online anymore.
Gary, however refused to give up.
It probably took a good three to four days before I finally decided to give him my number. Instantly, he messaged me.
Hey. This is Gary. I am fixing to call you.
I held the phone in my hand asking myself "was he really going to call?"
And the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey this is Gary "
Well, that's not what I expected. He was not American and spoke with a foreign language. I could barely understand what he was saying. He had mentioned how he was "from" Rochester, and when I asked him what state he continued saying Rochester. So I had to explain to him that Yoakum was the city I was living in and Texas was the state. He then said, "Minnesota."
We hung up and once again, floods of doubt poured into my mind.
I had my own apartment at this time that Richard and Gary were both my "boyfriend's" I had to choose only one. Richard after all, continued to deny his fake existence.
Gary did ask me to find him on Facebook and I had told him over and over I could not find him and that there were a thousand other ones. He told me to put in his email address and I did. I found him, sent him a friend request and he immediately accepted. But the minute he accepted, he wanted to chat on the messenger.
We talked for a bit about who we were and what our jobs were, our kids, and what our dreams were.
That same day I asked him if it was cold in Minnesota (it was September 2015) he did not respond.
Later that night as I was just about to fall asleep I received a text message. Gary mentioned at 10:15 PM at night that he was packing to go to England to see his sick son, Ted. He said he would text or call me when he had time.
He also mentioned after visiting Ted that he would be flying and working in Nigeria and Angola. Again, I was rude.
Why does it always have to be fucking Nigeria? Why can't it be Canada? Or Mexico?
Mind you readers, most scams live in Nigeria although claim to be working there. So I was really angry and upset about the situation and gave up on Gary too.
I kept texting Gary to see how he was doing, but there was no response. Three days went by, I had given up, and finally I received another text message. He mentioned how "I didn't care about his son because I never asked how he was doing." That made me feel guilty and hurt. Gary, however mentioned that he was just really busy.
There were times when I tried to call Gary with no answer. I got frustrated but I kept trying. Near the end of the month, I called while outside my apartment and a young woman with a very thick accent called me back and told me to "stahp" calling her.
At that point, I knew that I had to try again. But deep inside, I had a good feeling about Gary.
