From the moment I began writing my blog, and then when The Huffington Post picked it up, I have been having a blast. My whole life I got rejection letters from strangers and praise from family and friends for my writing. I was skeptical of both. But with my blog suddenly literally thousands of strangers are reading my writings and, although I do get some negative feedback, most responses have been wonderful.
Above and beyond the writing two things happened that had me absolutely laughing out loud.
When I was first invited to have my blog on the Huffington Post, the editor also asked me to provide to her 10 things I learned about women now that I was over 50. Considering I haven't been in a real relationship in quite a while it took me some time but I was able to piece some together. I passed it along to my editor and waited to see it online.
After a few months of not seeing the article I forgot about it and continued to post to my blog.
One thing that I found very interesting about my blog posts were that other websites were linking to some of them. Websites that specialized in or talked about divorce linked to the post I wrote about my divorce. The same was happening with dating websites. I often Google myself (and I haven't gone blind yet) to see where some of my posts landed out there on the web.
Then one day I saw my name attached to an article on The Huffington Post: "50 Things I've Learned About Women Now That I'm 50." Okay, I guess they used some of my list. I opened the article and imagine my surprise when there was a picture of George Clooney and his date at some red carpet event. I was further surprised when I saw the slideshow of quotes at the bottom of the article. There were quotes from George Clooney, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, and Al DeLuise.
Al DeLuise?
As one person posted in the comment section, "Who the hell is Al DeLuise?"
There were six of my quotes in the slideshow -- Clooney only had one. George and I will be double dating -- as soon as I can clear my calendar.
A few days later another Google search returned even more fascinating results. There was my name again, but the words surrounding it were unfamiliar. I wasn't sure what language it was, but it wasn't English. I clicked on the URL and there was my name again, still surrounded by foreigners. I was able to translate the page, which I now realized was written in Icelandic. It was the "Dating over 50" article that was on the Huffington Post -- although now it was titled, loosely translated, "Men over fifty of mature women."The nice people at spegill.is (no clue) changed the original article. Now the article actually started with one of my quotes. After the quote came this, again, loosely translated: "This gave Al DeLuise have on the public. Pretty good for him. But what had the say -- RIPE men of "older" women ...."
At the top of the article is a picture of Jack Nicholson's devilish smile. Next was Antonio Banderas, Larry King, Sting, Dustin Hoffman, Dan Rather, and Tim Allen -- a stock photograph beneath each of their quotes about dating woman over fifty.
Then there was my quote, about halfway down the screen. As I scrolled down and saw the picture under my quote I laughed harder than I had in a very long time.
I don't blame the people at spegill.is for the picture that they used. There are no stock photos of Al DeLuise floating around the internet and there is absolutely no reason for the people of Iceland (or anywhere) to know who I am. So it was with genuine delight when I stared into the shining eyes of a round faced, bearded man with a smile that beamed through the screen with a white hat on his head.
No, it was not Santa Claus.
It was the late Dom DeLuise.
Ever since I was a kid, I have been asked if I was related to Dom DeLuise. My standard answer has always been, "I wish". I thought he was hilarious when I used to watch him on the Mike Douglas Show (my kids are probably asking, 'When did Michael Douglas have a talk show?') Now, with the internet, our lives have finally been tied together.
Actually, in the picture under my quote on the website, he is holding a glass of wine.
Maybe we were related after all.