NORMA JEAN: The Proof Is in the Pudding
Personals work! So far this week, three couples have told me they've been lucky with "dialing for love":Couple No. 1: Married Oct. 31, 1996 I was busily preparing for a Personals Party, when I saw a couple walking towards me, holding hands. I was sorting out Personals forms (while sampling the super yummy spread put out at the beautiful new singles hot spot), puttering here and there, moving tables for the six belly dancers and drummers who were about to arrive, when these two glowing faces came into focus. They wanted to shake my hand and thank me for promoting Personals which brought them together. The woman, Jazmin Knight, ran an ad and the man, Rev. Randolph D. Reno, answered it. Presto, it was perfecto! They were married on Halloween. I was touched and surprised by the news, so I awarded them a romantic overnight stay at Ojo Caliente Mineral Hot Springs in New Mexico one of the Land of Enchantment's all time cool hideaways. Marriages happen.Couple No. 2: More than dating ...A woman, new to town, who attended two of my Women's Seminars, and very suspiciously and surreptitiously questioned me about using the Personals to meet decent, successful men ended up hitched too! She is a professional in her mid to late 40s, attractive and well-heeled. "This seems so scary to me. I've never even thought to do something like this," she confessed. "I really need to know that if I make time to meet men sight unseen, they will be normal, relatively intelligent and basically my financial equal." I explained that it is the person running the free ad that screens out the men/women who seem right from those slightly off the mark; that she was the one that gets to hear the callers describe who they are for up to three minutes, and it is their phone number she gets with no obligation to meet them. The ball is always in the court of the person placing the ad. Ms. Sophistication sat down with me to compose an ad. By the second seminar, she shared pleasant stories, as well as the few accounts of meetings with men whom she would never see a second time. "But even then it was interesting to talk to someone very different from me ... it's not really a waste of time at all!" she shared with the group. Basically everyone gets better at this process with practice. Not two months into the phone calls and meetings with single men, she announced a possible marriage with a very handsome, successful "winner." (And no, I do not make these stories up!)Couple No. 3: Companionship/relationshipA woman emailed me last week. Here is what she said: "This is a request that you pull my ad from the Personals ... no one has responded, so I decided to call one that caught my eye. I called and met "Seeking Inter-racial," and he and I are thoroughly enjoying getting to know each other. It's so wonderful to meet someone who is actually who he says he is! I can't believe I got this lucky on my first try! So give my ad space to someone else. Let the women know there are some decent men out there." ÑL.H.Persistence furthers,Norma Jean
