Love on the Edge
Wherever I go, I keep my eyes peeled for my matchmaking clients. I’m appealing to my friends, peers, and acquaintances for help.
I was standing in our room at a cute hotel lodge on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon when a wave of comfort rolled over me. Zach, my boyfriend, was sitting on the bed with his laptop researching flight options over the Canyon while I was making our morning coffee. What a relief, I thought to myself. What a relief that I don’t have to do this on my own anymore.
I’ve always been an independent and strong willed person, drawn to travel and adventure. When I was single, the prospect of traveling alone never prevented me from taking vacation trips. Besides, there can be great merit to navigating different cities and cultures by oneself. “Eat, Pray, Love” practically made it a priority on every modern woman’s to-do list. Although it’s undoubtedly fun and enriching, solo travel can be exhausting.
Let me count the woes of singleton travel:
- Having to make every decision by yourself.
- Being your own chief entertainer.
- Feeling like the odd one out on group tours full of couples.
- Warding off unwanted advances.
- Spending bundles of cash. After all, a hotel room costs the same whether you’re booking for one person or two.
I remember how hard all that was and therefore I’m happier when I have a good partner beside me to explore the world. As a private matchmaker, I want to create that same ease and comfort for all the singles who feel the same way. Because of this mission, I’m keenly attuned to possible matches for the women who have readily put their hands up for my matchmaking help. Although I serve clients of all ages, genders, and sexualities, my specialty is straight women between the ages of thirty-five and sixty-five. Therefore, wherever I go, I make sure to be on the lookout for interesting and available men of appropriate age.
With that in mind, let’s return to Arizona. Zach and I were taking in the exhilarating vista over the Grand Canyon when two men came to the same spot to admire the view. One was noticeably older than the other, but he had a craggy, seasoned masculinity that I thought would make him attractive to my clients. I sparked up a chat with the pair, and learned they were two friends who had met through their mutual passion for photography. The older man bragged that his young friend was a famous photographer. The younger man explained, bragging politely that he had held private audiences with Barack Obama and Joe Biden and had photographed Bernie Sanders for the cover of Time Magazine in 2016.
Zach is a big Bernie fan so he had a conversation with the “famous photographer.” While they conferred, I got to chatting with the older gent. He was a free spirit and a US Navy veteran, a lover of nature and travel based in the Seattle area.
As we were about to part ways, the older man encouraged me to take down his young photographer friend’s number, and told me to check out the photographer’s instagram.
Leaving them behind, Zach and I proceeded along the Bright Angel Lodge Trail. We absorbed the gorgeous panorama of the Canyon and pondered the two fleeting friends we had just made, who it seemed we would never meet again face-to-face. My matchmaker brain started humming. There were others who might like to meet one of them, I realized. I told Zach that the older man lived near Seattle, and I thought he might be a good fit for one of my two clients in Washington.
Zach hastily agreed, “Whatever it takes, you’ve got to find your clients their matches!”
He was right. The idea of reaching out to some stranger I’d just met by chance was nerve-wracking, but with Zach’s encouragement I bit the bullet and sent a text to the young photographer, asking about his handsome older friend’s relationship status. After a few awkward minutes of silence, the photographer responded. He told me that his friend was technically single (separated from his wife) but not in the right frame of mind to date. Although our text correspondence was brief, the photographer said he was impressed by my moxie and his veteran friend felt pretty chuffed that he’d been singled out as a good catch. He was attracted to the photo of one of my two clients, but not ready to date due to his current situation.
While that one didn’t work out, it was still worth its shot, and I’m glad I reached out. I’d seen something in the affable and interesting older man and decided to act on it. Timing is a necessary ingredient to have things work out but extending those feelers is always worth the effort. (I’ve since had further correspondence with the younger photographer as I wanted him and his friend to be comfortable with this article. He’s happy for his name and the below photograph I took of the two of them at the Canyon to be shared. Therefore, should you need a professional photographer, his name is Nate Gowdy and you can check out Nate’s instagram here. I also learned, (I had to ask now didn’t I?) that Nate is also currently single! “passively participating on Hinge and Bumble.”)
Zach and I have returned from our road trip around Arizona and I now have some serious work to do — both in terms of scoping out a permanent day job in public relations and in sourcing matches for the clients I’ve attained through my matchmaking side hustle. That will involve lots of personal outreach to my network. As one of my connections, can you help?
Right now, I am looking to unearth single men for five vibrant, intelligent and beautiful women based in:
- Philadelphia
- Seattle
- Tacoma
- San Francisco
- Los Angeles.
If you’re looking for a fulfilling relationship or know someone who is (my sweet spot is men for straight women between 35 and 65) feel free to send them my way. I am always on the lookout for good matches, even when standing on the lookout of the Grand Canyon.
More about Caroline:
Before leaving my home in Melbourne to form a permanent base in Los Angeles, I was determined to unearth the single men in my age demographic — give it one last hoorah to find a good match before taking off and trying my luck in the U.S. In 2010, using my PR and event management skills, I created, coordinated and threw a big party for Generation X singles called “The Kevin Bacon Party.” The hope for the party was that attendees would be connected to one another by six degrees or less: “friends of friends.” This was two years before the dating app Hinge, that follows a similar premise, was conceived in 2012. In fact, the inspiration for the party was a popular game in the 90s, can you find your six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon?
Given my career in public relations, I did my own publicity and secured TV, radio spots and articles across key media reaching my target market in Melbourne. This helped immensely in raising awareness and attracting attendees. Suffice to say the event sold out — 50/50 on the gender split — and we had a great time. Photos can be seen here.
Contact me at carolinejamespublicrelations@gmail.com
Read more about my matchmaking side hustle in the article “Six Degrees of Separation Matchmaking” here.
