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I’m past the two year mark with my current girlfriend, but I can tell you that being single was also a blast.

I’m not sure what your time line is or was. I moved back to Jax in March of 2007 after my divorce and to be honest I wasn’t ready to date. I also didn’t think it would be fair to whoever I would meet right away to jump in a relationship with me just having gotten out of one. So from March of 2007 until January of 2008, I did things that I felt like I had missed out on when I was married. I didn’t miss out on these things because of the actual marriage, I missed out on them because the person I married didn’t have the same interests as I did. Being single, I worked a ton of hours during the week, but the weekends were a great release. I have some really great friends that we always ready to play golf or go to games or concerts or whatever. Basically I spent the early part of my single days just having fun with no stress outside of work and no worries as far as dating is concerned.

Starting in 2008, I felt like I was ready to date again and go into dating with an open mind. Most of my friends were/are married and now have kids. They would try and set me up and sometimes I’d think, wow based on who they set me up with are these people really my friends?  So I tried online dating. I really liked it. You could get to know someone enough to where it isn’t as blind of a date as you think it would be. Both Match.com and Eharmony had their pros and cons. Match was more laid back and fun, Eharmony was more serious and businesslike. I met some great people, some I am still friends with since we had common interests and even mutual friends. It is truly a small world. I had relationships here and there and still just enjoyed living life.

Funny thing is, after all of this… in September of 2010, I received an email from a girl that I sat near at work for about a month but never spoke to. We worked together in May, I changed jobs in June but in the back of my head I wondered what she was up to even with my job change. Well in September she asked a friend of mine how I was doing in Orlando (she overheard me tell a friend that I was going to Orlando – but I was talking about for two or three days to play golf since I had a week off between jobs). My friend tells her that I still live in Jax and she asks for my email address. We have been together since and I’ll marry her one day. If I’m lucky.

I have never been happier.