Avoiding the Stigma of Meeting Through a Personal Ad

Should You Tell People You Met Through the Personals?

A few years ago I was visiting my parents with a woman that I met through a personal ad. My mom asked us how we had met. She wasn't prying. She was just curious. Neither of us was embarrassed that we had met through the personal ads, but it hadn't occurred to me that my mom might ask that question or how surprised she would be when we told her that we met that way. People in their 70's, especially if they have been married for 50 years, sometimes don't realize how creative you need to be.

I also went out with a woman who said that her daughters did not know how we had met. She told me that she would kill me if I ever told them. I didn't tell them for fear that she wasn't kidding. I also didn't see her many more times.

If you feel that you need to make up a lie about how you met, make it a very simple lie. Coordinate your story and get the facts straight. "We met in a checkout line at the supermarket" is simple and hard to mess up, unless your mom wants to know what her son was buying and you say broccoli and chicken and she tells the truth, you were buying Twinkies and Nestle's Quik.