That Time I Dreamt Up a Man from the Internet

In 2016, a friend signed up for online dating. I reluctantly signed up also.

Before I signed up, I had a dream that one of my male friends was teaching a martial arts class, attended by two students. The first student was the ex-husband of one of my best friends who had passed away in 2001. The second student was a former student of mine from 2001 — about age 9 when I knew him — scrappy kid with a good heart.

In the dream, my student was grown and had a sweet, handsome face. The three men in the dream were completely unrelated in real life. I woke and grabbed my phone to write it all down because I knew there was a message.

Then it hit me. My dead best friend’s husband and that former student? They both had the same name. Jeffrey. So, I commenced telling my friends to take notes: The next man I am with is named Jeffrey.

Later, I started emailing with a nice man who seemed new to online dating. We chatted for a while, but he hadn’t shared his name. He asked me out and sent me his Facebook profile. I recognized his name right away!

I knew this man. We had attended the same church in high school — two states away. I hadn’t recognized him in his online dating photos, and all I remembered of him was an intense phone conversation in 1979. His Facebook profile revealed a sweet handsome grown-up face and filled in the gaps of the 37 years in between.

He had lived down the road from me the past 20 years. Our children had attended the same martial arts class. So, we met and — against all my reservations — dated and eventually married. And of course, you know his name.