WHEN BEN MET KIM...

Have you ever met a couple and, when asked "How did you two meet?", they roll their eyes and reluctantly tell you "In a bar."

Well, I can tell you I DID NOT MEET BEN IN A BAR (not that there is anything wrong with that!) But I suspect what I am about to reveal will be the new "in a bar" answer to the commonly-asked question for the next few decades. I am finding more and more couples share the same story as me and Ben.

I had romantic ideas of meeting my mate-for-life while hiking in New Zealand or, perhaps, bumping into him in a wheat field while chasing tornadoes in Kansas. Neither of those two things happened in meeting my 6'4" piece of eye candy. Nope. I guess you can say, I went fishing.

I FOUND BEN ONLINE!

There. I said it.

NEWS FLASH: TV people join online dating services.

I always found it amusing when strangers would come up to me at events and make comments like "You must have men falling in your lap" or "Your dating life must be so exciting!"

NOT.

Here's my story in a nut shell: Kim gets new TV job in a different TV market. Kim gets new boyfriend. This career is not conducive to falling in love and convincing said love to move with you. That said, it wasn't always the guy not willing to move. Sometimes they were, but I didn't want them to. LOYE. So fickle.

Anyway, I had been reluctant to do the online dating thing because I feared meeting someone who just wanted to date me because I was on television. But I had heard so many great stories about people meeting and having a really meaningful relationship that I decided to GO FOR IT! When you think about it, it is a good system. From the get-go you can prioritize what is important to you in finding someone. Are you an outdoorsy person? Is your faith an important role in finding your soul mate? How about physical characteristics - where does that rank on the list?

So........ I put my profile up and started scanning the profiles. I came across Ben's (It was one of the first profiles of interest I saw). I could tell he was a brainiac (turn on #1). He was easy on the eyes (never hurts), but the money line for me -- the thing he said that peaked my interest

was a blurb he wrote about how for the past year he had been a youth counselor at his church. And how it was that experience that he hoped would help him be a better father some day.

SAY NO MORE. This guy had wonderful character, brains, and liked CAR TALK (major bonus points!) Before I knew it, I was off and sending him a

"wink". (If you are not familiar with online dating services, if you find someone you are interested in, you can send them an online "wink". The person receives it in their "in box" and has the option of winking back, ignoring your wink, or emailing.) Ben winked back.

Within a few days of the GREAT WINK EXCHANGE, we were heading out on our first date. I knew rather quickly that I wanted to pursue a relationship with Ben. It wasn't long before I removed my profile and allowed my account to go dormant.

So, there you have it. I met Ben online. Oh and by the way, he rarely watches local TV news; He had no idea who I was. We are programmed in this business to encourage people to watch us on the tube. This is a case where one less viewer was absolutely fine with me!