Dating apps left her exhausted, so Arin Patterson tried something completely different. The 36-year-old Charlotte woman created a three-page Google form titled“So…You’re Interested?”and pinned it to her Instagram bio in late August. Applicants must be between 28 and 47, Christian, single, and at least 5’10”. Since then, the form has collected 241 submissions and somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 direct messages. The application officially closes tonight at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Patterson works at UNC Charlotte as a senior associate director of a student union and recently earned her master’s degree. She ended an engagement in 2019, moved to Charlotte after the pandemic, and has been single for about three years. Her motivation runs deep: her parents have been married 44 years, and she wants the same kind of lasting partnership, along with her goals of becoming a wife and mother.
Social media reactions have run the gamut from praise for her confidence to criticism that the process feels transactional. Patterson’s answer to the skeptics is simple. She says having a desire for something does not make you desperate for it, and she is simply clear about what she wants. She adds that she’s open to a handsome, intelligent, kind, loyal, and generous man who enjoys coffee dates, dinner dates, and seeing where things go.
Would you ever apply for love, or does the idea of a screening process take all the romance out of it? Sound off in the comments.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.