How much do I write when I do find someone I find engaging? Quite a bit. It is all the more disappointing when the exchange stops. Here are the top ten of the men I have exhanged the most emails with (# of emails exchanged in parentheses):

1. Patrick (66) – that 60-year old who might have been in my graces still if he would have just apologized for not telling me that photo was 14+ years old, he resurfaced to wish me a happy birthday but still was his unrepenting self.  Last email received July 10, 2016. 

2. Seabiscuit (56) – is the only man left who still writes me back and the one who sends beautiful photographs. Shortly after I had given up on him, he wrote me: he had a particularly busy and bad week at work (I can relate). He responded not to my usual Craigslist ad, but one I posted about how nice it was to meet so many interesting people on CL. Things seem platonic, and I hope we will continue to at least be friends. I would be honored to have his friendship for many years to come. Last email received July 18, 2016 (this morning).

3. Kevin (41) – the Irishman from Wales, an architect or engineer of sorts, was supposed to confirm a date with me for last week and did not. He apologized later when I followed up a week later and said it was no fault of my own that he failed to respond, just busyness at work, but that he does think I sound lovely. He suggested a phone call instead; we will try to schedule one this week–assuming he responds. Last email received July 15, 2016.

4. Glen (31) – appeared in the ad I posted on the eve of my birthday. His writing was very seductive, minus the “sent from my iPhone” signature. But his writing style quickly devolved into a tale of sadness without paragraphs the more personal he got. Then he just stopped responding. I do wonder if perhaps my comment that his exes all sounded batshit crazy, or maybe he drove them all to be that crazy was not taken as humorously as I thought it. Last email received July 13, 2016.

5. Blaise (23) – a divorced Frenchman living in Idaho, he had two cats with Egyptian names. He wasn’t pretty remarkable other than that. Not sure if he stopped responding because I sent a photo, mentioned I broke up with my ex over my email, or something else.  Last email received June 17, 2016.

6. David (19) – ah, David! The one who makes my heart feel a pang of sadness for not exchanging contact information sooner. He will always have a special place in my heart and make me feel that sadness. He was the one whose CL ad I first responded to and who inspired me to write my own, setting off my CL adventures now. I really enjoyed our exchange. Why the hell did I ever doubt I could date a 48 year old? Last email I received June 10, 2016.

7. Sean (17) – the wandering seafarer, a naval architect, with whom I went out twice. No chemistry, I’m afraid, and he’s really into musicals whereas I am not. Last heard from June 19, 2016 (when we went out to a fair together).

8. Chris [Stanford] (16) – a grad student whose idealism made it clear to me that we could not be romantically compatible, I still found him interesting and thought friendship might be a good thing to share. Alas, he never got back to me after the fourth of July weekend. Last email received June 30, 2016.

9. Chris [Mumford] (15) – oh! The other one who makes my heart ache with regret in not exchanging contact info sooner. I found our exchanges as meaningful as the original one I had with David. No idea what made him vanish forever into the abyss, but I panicked when the CL relay service said my messages could not go through. I was greatly saddened. Last email received June 2, 2016.

10. Christopher [Woodelf] (12) – provided the flirtiest and most hilarious exhanges of them all. Sadly it all ended when I mentioned GoT, to which he responded: “you lost me forever with your Jon Snow statement. It’s an outrage.” His photo did remind me of a fat woodelf (Bosmer) from The Elder Scrolls, hence his appended title to help me disinguish all the Christophers. C’est la vie. Last email received July 6, 2016.

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