Dating Options For Iowa Single Added: 05/31/2007

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Long ago there were arranged marriages, then the “coming out” balls and church arrangements, then not too long ago everyone hit the bar scene looking for a date. But nowadays everywhere all over the globe even in Iowa singles are going online and searching cyberspace for a date. Maybe in some places there are still alternatives to online dating, like the beach, or other tourist sites jam-packed with singles. In Iowa, which is for the most part rural or small town, you can either meet your soul mate in high school or college and if you don’t, then you’re pretty much left with either your friends, your mom, church or the bar scene. Some places do have an alternative for divorced parents. It’s called “Parents Day Out” and it’s available through the YMCA. Yowa single parents can drop their children off for some fun (one Saturday a month) and go have time to themselves. There’s a chance that you might meet someone nice and available there, but most of the parents are moms. So unless you luck out with a high school sweetheart, college fling, blind date, church outing, or farmland miracle, you’re pretty much left with internet dating. Which is nothing to sneeze at.

More and more people, of all walks of life, are trying online dating. Online dating has been available for several years. But companies have learned from their mistakes and they’ve fine tuned the process making it more of a precise matchmaking service.

It’s like anything else in this world – you get what you pay for. There are a few sites that are free. You make up a username and password and fill out a few pages of forms. Put in your zip code, where you went to high school and college, what your occupation is, likes/dislikes, whether you’re Iowa single, divorced, or widowed. You fill out information about children; do you have any, do they live with you, would you consider dating someone that did, would you like to have any (or more). You can say whether or not you smoke and drink, what your religious status is, if you have pets, how often you exercise, and don’t forget the physical; hair and eye color, body type, and if that sort of thing is important to you, you can even list your annual salary, choose what you’d like your potential date’s annual salary to be or if that sort of thing is important to you.

People can always lie about these matters, but if one is serious about finding a potential love interest lying would just defeat the purpose. Of course you can always choose “other,” or “rather not say,” but unless you’re looking for someone who thrives on the mysterious, you won’t get much attention.

Most sites do some form of “background check” based on your “real” personal information; your real name, address, telephone number etc. They do this in order to try to keep out sexual predators/offenders. They all assure the client of absolute security and privacy of that personal information.

Once you’ve attained membership status you can search for matches. Depending on your type of membership, (the more you pay, the greater your choices are), you can search for matches in your area, matches in the same age group, same religious affiliation, same alma mater, even search for matches who are also pet lovers, “techno-geeks,” environmentally friendly, etc.

Then the “flirting,” emailing, (within the site, not your personal email), and chatting in the online rooms begins. We’ve all heard the horror stories that start, “I met him in one of the online rooms through a matchmaking service…” but there are ways to protect yourself in cyberspace. Be honest of course but don’t give out your address, home telephone number, or work information. If you have children, (and maybe pictures of them on your “profile”), do not give out their school location or after school schedule. Saying things like, “I have to work late tonight at the Barnes & Noble downtown, so my son Johnny will be home tonight by himself, and the house is pretty secluded, we live in the little white house over on 4th street,” is very irresponsible and dangerous.

However there are also lovely “happy ending” stories that start out, “I can’t believe I met him/her online…” And those are what give everyone hope.

The membership costs vary from free up to $59.99 per month. Several sites have ratings of online dating services and you can read about other people’s experiences and if they recommend the site to others. Some sites have an offer that’s similar to a “money back guarantee.”

Being an Iowa single isn’t so bad, not if you’ve got the internet at your fingertips, or hey go to the state fair, take in a Hawkeye’s game (football or basketball), float down the Mississippi River on a romantic dinner cruise, go check out the Field of Dreams, either way you go, you shouldn’t be an Iowa single for too awful long, hopefully soon you’ll be planning a wedding Iowa style.

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