Before I start with the story, there’s a fact you must know. When I went through online dating, I had three things that made me rule out a guy (all for different reasons). The first one was that I didn’t want a military guy. I support our military to no end – I grew up on a military base after all. Growing up military gave me an inside peek to what the life of a military family holds. At the time, I didn’t particularly want to be moving all the time. The second thing I ruled guys out on was smoking – I always looked for non-smokers. The third was writing – if they couldn’t capitalize or punctuate their sentences, it made me think twice.

It was the day I returned from my cruise that the ex broke up with me. After the shock wore off, I contacted my friend E and asked her if we could go dancing on Friday. It was summer and I was determined to still have fun. She agreed and plans were formed – plans that changed Friday night.

I showed up at the local pub we were meeting at and waited for E. While waiting, I took in my surroundings. This place was one that I liked – a cute little place full of history in the middle of our downtown. It wasn’t a college hangout like some of the other places. We were supposed to meet there and then head over to dancing.

She showed up late and informed me that we were no longer going dancing. One of the other girls that was coming didn’t want to anymore. I wasn’t happy – I had wanted to go dancing, not sit in a bar all night, but I resigned myself to a night of girl talk at least. This night was supposed to be about forgetting guys after all. (I was thinking I might need a break from the dating scene.)

We were in the midst of talking when a guy asked if he could join us. (The place was crowded and we had the biggest table with empty seats.) We agreed and he joined us. He introduced himself and I immediately groaned inwardly – his name was the same as my ex. He tried talking with E for a while before him and I got caught up in conversation. It didn’t take me long to figure out that he was a smoker and in the military – two of the things I had avoided online.