By Kimberly Kimmel
When marriage to his college sweetheart ended in 2010, Bill Bokunic from Lake Nona was disappointed. “It didn't work out,” he explains. With grown children and, at that time, working full time as a sales manager for a radio group, he had little time to spare. But he wanted to meet someone. “I felt I had to start over again.”
He had heard about online dating and wanted to investigate, so he joined the website Plenty of Fish. “I didn't want to hit the bar scene and I felt this would be a good choice,” says Bokunic.
Going online presented a plus side to dating. “It was easy and you can see if there is an attraction by viewing their photos,” he says. On the other hand, it was a bit overwhelming. “It is like a smorgasbord. A lot of choices, but you are never really sure what you are going to get. People can be superficial. A lot of them lie about their age or appearance.”
He wasn't looking to casually date but instead wanted to find that special someone. Then after coming home from yet another fiasco of a date, he had enough. “I mentally made the decision to divorce myself from online dating,” says Bokunic. “I thought, ‘I'm done, I'm taking six months off.’”
If At First You Don't Succeed
Since old habits die hard, Bokunic was working out when he thought he would check the online dating site just one more time. “I was at the gym and looked at photos. There she was. Her appearance was sweet, she owned a horse, and was from New York. I thought, ‘hmmm.’”
Now, as president of his own company, Quantum Marketing, he was interested in meeting another business owner. “Her profile was very upbeat. She described what she was looking for and it was similar to what I was looking for,” says Bokunic.
Jeanine Corcoran, a real estate broker in downtown Orlando, was also in the market for another relationship. After years of marriage and three children in their teens, she was ready to take a chance and enter the next phase of her life relationship-wise. She heard about online dating and thought she would give it a shot. “We are in the 21st century, so why not try it?” says Corcoran.
One of the benefits to meeting people online is that it is a time saver. “It is a numbers game. Plus, I always played it safe by meeting my dates at a public location and by letting my sister know where I was and who I was with,” she explains.
But after awhile, she got irritated. “I was giving up. I thought, ‘I'm trying too hard. If God wants me to find someone, He'll send someone. I'm taking a leave of absence. I'm done,’” says Corcoran.
Letting Go and Letting God
When one gives up, that is usually when they get what they want. Curiosity prompted Bokunic to give it one more shot. He took a leap of faith and contacted Corcoran. After chatting online, they took the next step.
“Bill called and we must have talked for an hour and a half. ‘Okay I can do one more lunch,’ I thought. We had so much in common,” says Corcoran. Getting all of the small talk and questions out of the way online, they went into deeper conversation over the phone. “Then we made an arrangement to meet for lunch.”
A Win-Win
Having his guard up a bit, Bokunic told her over the phone that he was busy doing media for his business but they could meet real quick for lunch. After meeting her, he changed his tune. “She was gorgeous, better looking than her picture,” says Bokunic.
She excused herself to go make a phone call, and he knew he had found something good. “I saw her walk away and I thought, ‘I have to bring my A-game right now.’ So I re-grouped in my head. She came back and we had a great rest of our lunch,” says Bokunic.
Because of their lengthy phone chat, Corcoran felt comfortable with him. “On our first date, I felt like I'd known him for 20 years,” she says.
Bokunic was delighted. He enjoyed their lunch so much, he asked her to join him at a concert he had tickets for in the coming weekend. “I didn't know if Bill would want a second date but he surprised me. We saw each other every night since the day we met,” says Corcoran.
The couple was married at the end of last month. Their message to others who may want to venture into the online dating arena? Keep looking. “Don't give up,” says Bokunic. “The right person is out there. We both had similar experiences. I dated more than she did but we both came to the conclusion that we were going to give up. Be ready because just when you least expect to find someone, they'll be right in front of you.”
Close friend, Laura Wayman, says, “When I first heard Jeanine turned to online dating, I was skeptical, but as I watched her go through the process it reminded me that everyone looks for love and it really doesn't matter how you find it. When Jeanine first met Bill she told me, 'I am going to marry him,' and I thought she was crazy. But a few years later, she was right.”
