All good things must come to an end and when they prove to possibly be not all that good their end should come rapidly and without looking back.

Such is the case of the mysterious Mr. Cleveland. We met only a short while ago online and within a week he was professing his undying love for me. Of course I freaked and thought it was just another catfish scam so I ended the relationship immediately. And, within a short period he had tracked me down, emailed me wanting to know if I was o.k. and expressing what seemed like real concern for my wellbeing.

So, together again, until I began to wonder why all the pictures I had seen of him were professional and posed and probably fashion model types of pictures. So, I began to insist he send me a picture, sort of a selfie type, of just his face or I was going to go away again for fear the he was not the person in the collection of photos he had sent me.

Well, he actually went a step further and send a short video of himself with his shirt off and a glint in his eye that seduced me right back on track to become the long distance relationship winner.

A number of you pointed out that there was nothing about the picture/video that made it something that was unique to me and that it could actually be a video that had been used time and time again. The seed was planted even though I was convincing myself that I might have actually not only found a love to end my life with but an amazingly handsome, hot and sexy one to boot.

Well, that seed grew and for the past week I have been asking at first then insisting that he send me a short, maybe 30 second, video chat where he actually spoke, showed his face and said something as simple as hello, how are you?.

Then, yesterday a.m. I drew a line in the sand and said there would be no more chat from me until I got a video chat from him. He began to say things like on babe, please do not act that way. I went into silent mode with notifications turned on in Skype so that, if he sent something, I would know. Finally, last evening at about 7 p.m. he texted/chatted that he felt I was being unreasonable and that I was trying to rush our relationship (this from the man who was talking marriage at week number 2). I texted back that I did not feel I was being unreasonable and that, in fact, if we had met face to face instead of online, this would be a done deal and I wanted the video chat or I would terminate the relationship.

I waited for an hour, texted one last farewell, and deleted Skype (I had only installed it for his communications). 

This morning he does not exist, in fact there is no record of his ever existing. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram...all traces of his existence have been erased from the Internet. So, I guess he was just on a fishing expedition after all.

Funny, I do not feel sad or remorseful at all. In fact, I sort of feel relieved. Relieved that no more information of a personal nature was shared beyond name and ID for Skype. So, catfish lesson number two for me. One that cost an arm and a leg financially, and this one which was, and remains, mysterious in the direction he was trying to maneuver it.

So, here I am, once again, just that little old man who lives up the lane. On my own, alone (but not lonely today, that comes and goes) books, music and movies...and Timmy, all my constant companions. In another 3 months I will finally be out of debt from my first catfish adventure and will have a significant amount of money left each month (compared to the few dollars I have each month now) and may even begin the process and planning of becoming more independent from this "Independent Living Facility".

Oh, and lets not forget that I still have my stunning South American Gentleman, My mysterious and marvelous Russian in St. Petersburg, and my mentor and guru in Spain to keep me company and to actually have conversations with that do no relate to, or even hint at, any sort of relationship beyond the friendships that have grown over the months. Oh to be able to actually visit with them someday. That is a dream that will never be, I know, but a dream well worth holding on to.