We’ve entered a world where Zoom seems to be the most recent master of the universe.

School, exercise classes, dance classes, music lessons, doctor’s appointments, therapy and yes…dating!

As you know, I stopped my online search in Dec with the hope that I would find my diamond-in-the-rough by walking the streets in real life.

But I’m not out walking on any streets now-that seems to have been replaced by boars and coyotes.

Instead the new reality is that I have to go back online to get offline. Talk about twisted!

I imagine the aliens above looking down at us and wondering what’s going on with us-we are all sheltered in our homes, sitting and staring at screens as if they are our life source-just like in Wall-E. It’s eery how accurately that movie projected our future-except we are not in space…yet.

So, accepting this new order I was a part of, I decided I wanted to participate in life and joined a Zoom meet up for singles.

188 of us showed up! That’s a whole lot of people trying to get laid without getting laid!

I imagine a few weeks ago you’d find most of us at a bar/club/restaurant/museum/vacationing/getting our groove on somehow. Instead now, all 188 of us were sitting in front of our various pieces of tech in hope to find someone interesting.

And luckily, I did!

I was talking with a small group (we were sent to breakout rooms-there was no way 188 people could have successfully talked to each other in that forum otherwise) and there was a man who caught my eye. I knew I wanted to get to know him.

But I didn’t have his contact info. He wasn’t listed on meet up. So, I decided to be a grown up and boldly emailed the organizer, asking if my latest love interest shared a desire to know each other. A few days went by and I forgot I even sent that message until I received a reply telling me that my zoom stranger would love to hear from me and I was in business!

So, in my Diana way, I emailed the mystery man and unlike most of the men I dated over the past decade and a half, he replied immediately! Hope springs eternal. We have our first ‘FaceTime Date’ on Monday!

FaceTime date!?! In my prediction of what’s going on with COVID, I think our first face to face may be a drive by in a car, waving through windows. I see the term ‘drive by’ getting a whole new meaning.

We’ll need new experiences to replace those first kisses, walking next to each other and into one another, too nervous to actually hold hands, smelling the cologne and scent of another, holding a glance long enough to get butterflies.

But I’m not really sure what those will be. Sure, that phone sex I talked about last time may be a huge part of it, but we’ll need teasers of some kind to build up to that, won’t we? Otherwise wouldn’t we be skipping the whole courting/dating part of getting to know each other? Or is that the only way this will work in this new ‘offline is online’ thing?

I wasn’t sure how this blog was going to end up today. I’ve had so many thoughts this week and it’s been an emotional rollercoaster for me with days of sobbing watching the suffering of our species and other days of sitting with gratitude and acceptance of the lessons that Mother Earth is giving us.

One of my friends said something profound this week-“you need to replace what you take”.

I think she’s right. We have taken a lot from our planet and the cosmos above. It’s our payday and that will take years to do. This is our message to wake up and see what you can replace. Dolphins are coming up to the shores in Venice, the waters are clear, the ozone layer is healing, animals are coming out of hiding (a bit like the ‘Planet of the Apes’).

It’s time for all of us to slow down, reflect, be one with this change and accept what is coming to us. That’s the reason I decided to passionately forge ahead with zoom dating.

I need to live full heartedly and enjoy what I’ve been given. If that’s a FaceTime Date, so be it. And the in the meantime, I hold space for all my fellow humans and will continue to heal myself and others through the gifts I’ve been given. I hope you will do that too.