Real time observations on eCoupling

/ aginggracefullymyass

eharmonyruler

I’m back in my favorite coffee shop.

The craziness of the past couple of months (grandkid’s birth, Rome, crazy mother-in-law trip, grandkid visit, 1st marathon) has limited the time I’ve been able enjoy the convivial atmosphere of Prancing Oats.  I’ve changed the name to protect the innocent. Makes it sounds more like a petulant health food store than a coffee shop.

Normally, I come here to write AGMA stuff.  It’s a routine.  I get my mocha and scone, sit at a window high top table and let it fly… Or dribble out.

Today I came to study.  My Certified Personal Trainer exam is coming up in – yikes – two weeks.  I am sooo not ready.  I’m convinced that my brain is running out of room.

Everybody here is usually as quiet as a mouse.  With tilted, forward heads and excessively rounded shoulders, they’re normally all silently tapping away at their lap tops.  Sorry about that…I have postural dysfunction on the brain.  Anyway, it’s generally a good place to come if you need to concentrate.

Not today.

Today, I’m pretty sure I have a eHarmony couple sitting next to me.  They’ve done nothing but talk for the last 40 minutes.  Non-stop.  It’s a 3 person table.  I feel like their chaperone.  We’ll call them Dick and Jane.  No Sally.

It got really hard for me to focus on the eight reasons for flexibility training and what the the lengthened muscles are in Pronation Distortion Syndrome.  Non-stop talking.  So now I’m blogging.  I feel compelled to share my observations about modern day coupling as I see it happening in front of me.

Sadly, I don’t think they’re going to make it.  Dick seems to be much more interested in Jane than she is in him.  It sounds like a job interview.  He’s asking questions and she’s dutifully answering them.  While Dick’s volunteered a lot of information, I don’t think Jane’s asked him a single question.  So sad.

We have gone over Jane’s education (two bachelors degrees), what she likes to drink at a coffee shop (coffee in the AM, tea in the PM), what she does now (a nurse), where she’s lived (I think I got 5 minutes of good study in – I don’t remember), where she’s traveled (mostly domestic, but a trip to France in high school), what TV shows she likes (guilty pleasures like The Bachelor), what movies she likes (Fried Green Tomatoes is her favorite, but she likes inspirational sports movies like Rudy), what shows she’s seen (not much lately but she saw Wicked in LA), what her politics are (progressive), what she does in her free time (a runner – yeah!) and what her music tastes are (loves country music on Pandora. Doesn’t use Spotify.) They both agreed they love the singer/songwriters who play at Eddies Attic.

That’s nice.

Quite honestly, I wanted to jump into their conversation. Wouldn’t they have just loved that?  When Jane started railing about Georgia not approving the Medicare provision of Obamacare, I wanted to tell her I totally agree with her.  When she said she’d run three marathons, I wanted to tell her about mine.  When Dick asked her about the snowman in Frozen, I wanted to say he was comic relief.  And I wanted to agree with them about Eddies Attic.

Dick’s gone now and Jane’s back to studying.  I think she’s going for her Masters in Nursing.  They hugged before he left and talked about getting together “sometime”.  No plans were made.  Yeah – been there, done that.  Doomed…

I find myself wishing the best for each one.  They both seemed like really nice, intelligent, socially-conscious Millennials.  Actually, they seemed to have pretty much in common.

But…

From personal experience of many, many moons ago, I know that you have to feel that special spark.  It’s an energy thing.  Mr. eHarmony can match people online based on interests and whatever other criteria he uses, but there is no substitute for good old fashioned heart thumping and breathless face to face attraction.  I’m a bit flush thinking about it.  Oh my…

Good luck Dick and Jane!  I hope you both find that special person.  Just be careful who you sit beside when you meet or you might find your liaison out on the blogosphere for the world to see.

Oops – too late!

47 thoughts on “Real time observations on eCoupling”

  4. I agree about the spark, it’s either there or not. JD and I started off with a helluva spark (we’re both Scorpio) and while it still flashes HOT at times, we’re older and I sometimes find myself just enjoying our nights on the sofa.

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  6. I find myself wanting to know more about them…so funny where the inspiration for blog posts come from sometimes! Those heart-thumping moments really can’t be beat and are never forgotten!! Nowadays I get far too many but that’s a heart arrhythmia and a whole different story 😉

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    • I had absolutely no intention to write when I went there. But I’m such a student of human nature, I just couldn’t resist the observations. Plus they were talking about 2 ft (a bit more than a 1/2 meter, right?) away from me and there was no way I could study. Clearly my presence didn’t bother them. Maybe it should have… 😉

      I think you’re too young for arrhythmia! What gives? Maybe a triathlon isn’t a good idea after all?

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      • Discovered just over a year ago. Possibly always had it as have felt dizzy when getting up too suddenly for as long as I can remember! Consultant says keep on exercising – funnily enough it’s when I am resting that I get more ectopic heartbeats!! On the wait list for a minor op to blast out the extra electric impulse but as most of the time I feel nothing and all is good, he may or may not decide to go ahead! Perhaps I should write a post about it!! x

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    • Hi Louvic, don’t mean to butt in here, but if your heart is racing often, you might need to get it checked out, especially if it’s combined with dizziness. My daughter had supraventicular tachycardia that started when she was a child. We never knew why she passed out for no apparent reason on occasion. In her teens it started happening more frequently, accompanied by a racing heartbeat. Finally, when she was in her late twenties, she received a correct diagnosis, and they were able to treat it with a simple procedure.

      http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/tc/supraventricular-tachycardia-overview

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      • Thank you Susie; so glad your daughter is now rid of it! I have had a year of tests; including an hour long MRI (ewwww!) I basically have ectopic heartbeats but don’t usually feel them. On a wait list for possibly the same op as your daughter (laser ablation), but because most of the time I am asymptomatic, the consultant is still unsure whether we should go ahead. Difficult decision as only seem to have bad dizzy spells about once a year – but the last one included a faint! I am hoping this year, we can get rid of it though! Louise

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      • That is a difficult decision… You don’t want to have an unnecessary procedure, but again you don’t want to faint when you’re driving a car or in some other equally dangerous situation. Wishing you the best in getting it resolved quickly and completely!

        And I’m SO HAPPY that your consultant (is that like a nurse practitioner?) said you can get on with your triathlon plans! Let me know which one you sign up for and I’ll be your “cross the pond” cheerleader! 🙂

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      • Thank you, it’s great to have a supporter over the pond! I don’t know what a Consultant is called in the US – maybe a specialist? In descriptive terms, they are the senior, specialist, physician or surgeon in their sector – i.e Cardiac Consultant or Renal Consultant etc. Do let me know the US equiv!!

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  7. It took me a full minute to get the picture! OMG! LMAO!!

    Usually people annoy the hell out of me when their conversations are readily available for all the world to hear, but this one sounds especially entertaining. And you got a post out of it…nothing wrong there. 🙂 However, I still get annoyed overhearing loud cell phone one-sided conversations, although I do like to make up my own responses for the other side. It’s mildly amusing. 🙂

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    • Love the capital letters and exclamation marks! Glad you liked it! I’m back at my coffee shop now and there is a couple beside me and they are just having a “normal” conversation. Meh… No blogsdropping posts today. Ha!

      My husband is one of those loud cell phone talkers. The world is lucky that he pretty much hates to talk on the phone. But when he does, it makes me crazy… Oh wait – I’m already crazy. Never mind!

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  8. Pingback: Gravitational Pull | Janey Does Blogging

    • Oh Peasie – that is sad… 😦 I know this sounds funny, but I’m hoping one some level that he feels the same. Sometime people just stay in a “dead” relationship and keep the status quo because neither one has the courage to speak up. Often times, when one does, the other is relieved because they were feeling the same way all along. Sending good thoughts your way…

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    • Thanks Jean! Yikes – definitely no spark! My question is, what on earth are they looking at on their phones for extended periods of time? I have a smart phone and, other than quickly checking email and twitter, that’s pretty much it! And I only check twitter during cycling “season” – I follow all the elite teams and riders and road races. It’s clear to me the cyclist do NOT have PR people write their tweets – they’re hysterical!

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  13. You should have just waded on into the conversation. Perhaps you could have sparked a real connection for them to bond over. Twenty five years from now they would still be telling the story of their first meeting and the funny woman who showed up and brought them together at the coffee shop, where they had been dropped off by EHarmony. How they had laughed and laughed and then she was gone and they talked on the rest of the afternoon. They speculate whatever happened to you, they calculate age and speculate how old you would be if still on the planet. Once they thought they caught a glimpse of you in Rome as a very elderly lady, the gal thought she saw you once at a marathon..they regret never having had the opportunity to tell you the role you played in their lives, introduce you to their now grown up children. You just never know the impact you have on folks…or when you might appear on their blog!

    Enjoyed your post very much. My best to you.

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    • Oh my gosh JoHanna – what a beautiful story you’ve woven… So incredibly touching. But I DO think of people who had an influence on me when I was younger and think similar fond thoughts! So interesting. In calculating their age, I’m pretty sure they have passed away (or they’re like 100!) but I still remember them from so long ago… And they’ll continue to live on in me until I pass away.

      I hope that, thought the small ways they touched me, I was able to teach those special things onto my children. That way they continue to live on, although they may not have a name to my children and grandchildren and their children. I guess the name isn’t as important as the lesson right?

      Thank you for your compliment and the lovely comment. I think you should expand that into a blog post!

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  15. Pingback: Fearless tech 101 | Aging Gracefully My Ass

    • Ha! Again, I don’t ever intend to eavesdrop – I come for the quiet (and the amazing coffee) so I can write. But they were sitting right next to me at a community table and were chatting louder than normal and it was painfully obvious this was a 1st meeting. I couldn’t resist… Sort of the perfect storm of eavesdropping!

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      • AGMA !! I was just thinking of you today! I was looking for the next recipe to showcase for my blog – and its Scones!! You made me crave proper English scones!! Look out for a shout out on my next blog post!!!

        Now only if I could learn how to TAG you properly.. we’d be in business.

        And point made about the loud couple sitting next to you.

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      • Saw the post!! I’m so excited! Now underneath my Freshly Pressed logo, I can put “Freakin’ Forkin’ Famous”!

        Oh – scones… Can you hear my tummy rumbling? I might actually give your recipe a go, but not until later in the Fall. It’s just too stinkin’ hot here to have the oven on! All I ever do is sweat. I know – TMI…

        Thanks for the shout out and for the compliment of inspiring you!

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