Web of Pretense

Mark was planning to retire from his twenty-five year stint as a high school teacher in upstate New York. In two weeks, it would be his last day on the job. He always knew his calling was to teach.
He received his BS Degree in Math and a MS in Education. Following graduation, he immediately got a job teaching algebra, calculus and geometry at a public high school and spent the best years of his life shaping the minds of young people.
Many of his students went on to attend prominent colleges and universities and became power brokers in business, law, politics, medicine, construction, science, arts, sports, and entertainment.
Because of his teaching style and commitment to education, he garnered much respect and admiration from his students and peers. Voted teacher of the year for three consecutive years, he now sensed it was time to leave and pursue other interests.
After consulting with his financial advisor, Mark knew he would be able to live comfortably on his pension and investments. His portfolio, which included stocks, bonds and mutual funds, was worth about $350,000.00.
His house, which he was planning to sell, had an assessment value of $425K, but despite all of his accomplishments, he felt isolated and unfulfilled in his love life.
He got married at a young age, but the union ended before it got started, and even though he dated often, there was never a deep love or emotional connection with any of his dates. A few of his friends and co-workers would arrange blind dates for him, but the sparks were never there.
Most of the women he dated were middle-aged divorcees or widows who were unadventurous or set in their ways. Gathering around the table and snacking on munchies and gossiping about who knows what were the ultimate high for most of these women.
Mark enjoyed going to the nightspots and being around energetic people. It was definitely time for him to meet someone who was active and enjoyed doing the things he cherished. If he did nothing else, he was going to find the love of his life and live blissfully ever after.

It has been one year since Mark left his job. He was busy getting his house in order and putting it up for sale. He had lived in his home for over twenty years. He thought about leasing the house and giving the renter the option to buy, but after careful consideration, decided to sell the property.
He did not want to hold a mortgage or put any more money into upgrading the place, as was suggested by the real estate agent.
Since the house was already in superb condition, Mark felt selling the house as is would be a better choice.
He was very meticulous in maintaining his property, which was a two-story townhouse with three bedrooms; each room came with its own bathroom; there was a spacious kitchen with all modern appliances, a finished basement apartment with its own bathroom, and a two car garage, just to name a few of the house’s selling points.
The eclectic community included professionals, entrepreneurs, artists, working class people, retirees, young couples and single parents.
Then, you had those few individuals who stood around all day doing nothing. It was never quite clear how they made their living, but they were unquestionably the town criers of the neighborhood; if you ever wanted to know what the latest hearsay was, you would go to them.
When Mark bought the house, he was contemplating on being married with children. However, as fate would have it, getting married again was yet to happen. For one person, the house was just too much. In earlier years, some of his relatives were living with him. However, they purchased their own homes or relocated to various parts of the world.
The homes in his community were appraised from $400K to $600K. He was asking for $450K. He bought the house for $90K in the mid 1980s and stood to make a nice return on his investment.
Living abroad has always been Mark’s dream. He was thinking about relocating to Bermuda, because he had traveled there on many occasions and loved the friendliness of the people, the warm climate and the tranquility, but before making any decisions about moving overseas, he would first have to do more research and find a buyer for his house. This was going to take time, because the housing market was in a deep slump.
Now that Mark had more leisure time, he went on the Internet to check out the latest trends. While he was teaching, going on-line for fun was of no interest to him. He would use the Internet to do research on teaching concepts and new theories in mathematical calculations.
He always encouraged his students to use the Internet as an educational tool but pointed out that they should never rely on the World Wide Web as their only source for acquiring knowledge.
As he was browsing through cyberspace, he came across a social networking site for professionals who were looking for dates, romance, and fun. He would always overhear some of his associates talk about meeting people for love and other activities in these communities but never gave it much thought.
He never had problems meeting women; he just could not find one with passion and sensuality. He decided to check out the site, started to read some of the women’s profiles and became amazed by the number of females who were searching for men.
The majority of the posters were in their early to mid-twenties; he was in his early fifties and thought that most of the women would have no interest in him.
Yet, Mark did have a youthful-looking face; while teaching, he was often mistaken for a student. All the same, he uploaded his photo along with the following information:

My name is Mark. I am a recently retired math teacher, who has been searching for Miss. Right all my life and believe that extraordinary woman is somewhere out there. I am 5’11” tall, and even though I am in my early 50s, I am in excellent physical form and have the stamina of a 20 year old. My goal is to meet a down-to-earth, loving and caring single female for a relationship leading to marriage. I am compassionate, romantic, kind, financially secured and enjoy traveling, dinning out and going to nightclubs. Your looks, social or economic status is unimportant. If you are interested, please drop me an e-mail.