Inter Racial Marriages

Sigrid & Greg -
Richmond, Virginia, United States

Engaged March 2014

Can Love Save Your Life?

Greg was going through treatment for a serious illness, something no one should face alone. Fortunately, he’d found someone special on our site. Sigrid stood by him as he endured some scary, trying times.

We asked how much his new love means to him. “It literally saved my life,” responded Greg.

Before he fell ill, Greg was just another single guy who decided to date online. Meeting this wonderful woman was a happy outcome he never saw coming. In fact, when he ponied up the cash for his membership Greg was “not at all” confident that the investment was worth it. But fatefully, he got a nudge from a family member. “My sister suggested I try it as a means to meet someone,” he says.

We’re the site he signed up with. “I was sure it was the best choice,” he says now. “It’s not like you can walk up to a person on the street and say, ‘Are you single and if so, are you looking to meet someone like me?’ Online, they took the time to fill out a profile and put it out there that they are single, along with what type of person and what type of relationship they’re looking for. You can at least enter your criteria and have a place to start.”

The draw with online dating was similar for Sigrid. She was looking for “a place to meet someone single who wanted a similar relationship.” Remembering the moment she first saw Greg’s profile, Sigrid says, “I saw his picture and was instantly interested!”

At that time Sigrid was just “window-shopping,” so to speak — she’d let her membership lapse. “I had done one month previously and talked to a few people, but that was it,” she says of her first stint on our site. But renewing was step 1 in getting to know this guy, because otherwise she couldn’t contact him. And so, in a true “put your money where your mouth is” moment, “I signed up when I saw his profile!” she laughs.

It wasn’t just Greg’s looks that inspired Sigrid to pay up and reach out. “After reading his profile, I was interested in talking with him,” she says. “He seemed a tad jaded, but also sincere.”

Fortunately, Greg responded to her message right away. “I could tell he was skeptical, but also curious,” Sigrid recalls. Greg was indeed intrigued by this “RedLips101” (Sigrid’s screen name). They spent a good deal of time talking on the phone.

Greg tells us he was looking for a smart woman who also took care of herself, physically. This briefly created a rift between him and Sigrid. “He had met people who said they worked out, and then they met and they did not look that way,” laughs Sigrid. “In fact, he said, ‘So you say you work out, but if I met you on the street, would I KNOW you worked out?’”

The fact that Greg thought she might be exaggerating her level of fitness had Sigrid feeling a little defensive. She wanted her appearance to speak for itself, when they met. “Part of me just wanted to say, visually, ‘Yeah, darn right I work out, what do you think?!’ Plus, I thought if you are that concerned when we meet, you better look the part too. If you ‘gonna talk the talk,’ so to speak!”

In the end, this little dust-up proved to be much ado about nothing and didn’t cause any discord between them. It wasn’t long before Sigrid felt the time was right to meet up in person. “We had talked for three weeks or so, and I figured that it’s now or never,” she explains. “I didn’t want a phone pal!”

In person, neither party’s appearance would disappoint. “He was EXACTLY like his picture — handsome,” Sigrid says with a smile. “I was instantly happy I chose to meet him in person!” Greg felt the same way. “I was like ‘oh yeah!’ She’s pretty hot,” he remembers thinking.

What was the most surprising thing about their fateful first date? “That beyond the mutual physical attraction, we just meshed on so many levels,” replies Sigrid. She says his profile was “dead on” in its portrayal of the real person, so there were no surprises there. After the early friction, Greg was just happy “that we actually got along!”

Greg couldn’t really compare the person he met to her profile because Sigrid had never completed it! “She didn’t really have hers filled out,” Greg chuckles. Still, he says, “She was on the mark” when it came to his priorities in a partner.

Sigrid felt “100% positive” that they should make Date No. 2 a reality. “I knew what I wanted in a partner,” she says. “He was my type!”

Meeting Greg has been a big boost to Sigrid’s spirits. Asked how finding love has changed her life, she says, “It’s filled it, in all sorts of ways. I realize now what love is! That’s a change.”

She recounts the day Greg confirmed his commitment to her. “Honestly, it was not like a formal ‘down on one knee’ thing,” she says. “We were so deeply in love and going through all this stuff with his health. He introduced me as his fiancée to a doctor, and that was that. After that, I said ‘fiancée?’ And he said, ‘Well, its not like you won’t be my wife soon, so “girlfriend” just sounds silly.’ I said ‘true!’ We have been fiancé and fiancée ever since.”

Here are Sigrid’s suggestions for more-effective online dating. “BE HONEST, in all ways,” she stresses. “Your real, updated picture, your real intentions, what you are like, what you like and also what you do not like. If you see someone you are attracted to, do not just hit them up if you know something like their religion, political stance or whatever it is, is completely opposite of yours. That will be a bone of contention later. Just be who you are and make no excuses for it. The right person will love you for that. But so many [singles] put up what they think others want to see, just to get a date. Then it’s fake once you meet. So why not start out with ‘what you see is what you get,’ like it or leave it, but don’t waste my time!”

Love can get us through the darkest of times. Greg was fortunate to find someone who would stick with him in sickness and in health. If the couple ties the knot, we wish them a long and happy life as husband and wife!

Click here to read more inspiring interracial couples stories.