Maybe there’s something to be said about how the most attractive people you will ever see are in the TSA lines, getting ready to board a plane destined to fly in the complete opposite direction of where you’ll end up landing. Your eyes will meet and you’ll see a future together. A house in the suburbs, a green kitchen, one of you will pick up a vice like cigars or poker (but it will never get too bad, just a bad habit to roll your eyes affectionately at). A life together. Then the TSA worker says NEXT and they leave. You never see them again.
Maybe on the flight home you start to wonder, was that The One? Desperately, you wonder how to find them again. Luckily for you, there is a website dedicated to this dilemma.
Missed Connections started with Craigslist’s CEO, Jim Buckmaster, noticing a pattern in the Craigslist ads. Ads like, “It was a couple weeks ago at Golden Gardens. Our dogs played together. I sensed a connection between us. I didn’t ask for your number because I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea. I’m fresh out of an 18 year relationship and I didn’t think I was ready to start anything new. I’ve regretted not asking ever since. Would you like to meet up?” is an example of one written a few weeks ago.
After seeing so many entries of strangers looking for other strangers, Buckmaster created a section on Craigslist just for these ads. The website Missed Connections comes down to this, there is nothing more heart achingly human than believing in second chances.
I’m not sure how it came to be that a section on Craigslist became the most romantic expression of hope but one thing is for sure, Missed Connections is THE website to scroll through when you want to think about how many meet cutes happen per day. One of my favorites is a guy who fell for the girl trying to rob him, “Hi, I am the guy whose house you tried breaking into this morning around 9:30 AM in Moore on Gale Street…Still, I feel we made a good connection, separated only by inches, the door, and the two locks you were trying to pick. I gave you 15 minutes to make your getaway. You’re welcome BTW. I don’t know if you were with a professional crew, but please don’t try to break into my house again…”. Truly a romance for the ages.
Missed Connections doesn’t do the best to follow up on any one these almost-romances so we’re all left to ponder what happens to all these protagonists in their own little rom coms, but one thing is for sure: there’s always a chance of love story happening around us.