I had a texting stalker.  We started chatting on the site. Again, nice enough guy I thought. Well there goes first impressions. His picture was a long distance shot. Standing on a beach in a wet suit. Hard to tell, but I thought, okay, we can chat.  We set up no less than 3 meetings for coffee, none of which actually took place.  The first 2 just fizzled out and never materialized because he couldn’t commit to a day. RED FLAG.  The 3rd and last attempt,  we had a time and a place. 7:00 pm. Starbucks. (gave in on this because Starbucks is not my first choice. that could be another conversation sometime) He would text me when he was on his way. No text.  I sent a text at 6:45 saying, are we still meeting? At this point,  I had already lost all interest, but of course had to make my point. He said, well, I am having trouble getting a babysitter. A babysitter? There was never a mention of a child in the many conversations we had. RED FLAG # 2. Waited about 15 minutes and I received a text saying it wasn’t going to happen because he couldn’t get a sitter.  Damn straight it was going to happen.

Now I am done. 2 red flags and I learned my lesson. Did it stop there? No! Now I begin receiving  at least 10 texts a day saying how he is thinking of me and wants to meet. He knows we have chemistry. blah blah blah. I  am not answering these until one comes that says he NEEDS to meet me. I write back, in no uncertain terms, and in all CAPS… DO NOT TEXT ME AGAIN or I will report you.  Turns out I didn’t have to because when I went on the site I saw his profile  had been deleted due to improper activity with members. Yes, Red Flag # 3. And I thought I was special. But, not to worry, we were not done yet! A few months later he resurfaced.  I received another message on the site asking how I was  and do I want to meet. Yes guess who. My texting stalker was back, under a new profile name.  Red Flag # 4.  Better left unanswered I thought and all has been calm since. Well with him anyway. There are others out there just waiting to find me I am sure.

But wait. There is more. Red Flag # 5. I got a message from what appeared to be a fairly good looking man. He was mid- fifties- I know! I am slipping! He said he would like to meet me  and get to know me. I was being playful and I said oh why do you want to meet me? He responds with  “ I miss you!”   I scroll down and this turns out to be my texting stalker! Under a new name and clearly using a random picture-  I  felt violated! I said NEVER and deleted him. In retrospect, I should have noticed that all the names he used had the word ‘sail’ in them. That could have been a hint, but the picture threw me! Learned my lesson. AGAIN.