Falling in love takes a leap of faith. When you meet someone new, putting your heart in their hands requires trust, and just a little bravery.
In 2016, when Tracy Hall first downloaded a dating app, Happn, she wasn’t feeling particularly courageous. She was 40, newly single and trying to imagine what her life would look like post-divorce. Tracy and her daughter, Asha, then six, lived near the beach, where Tracy loved to unwind from her demanding marketing job by running along the shoreline or plunging into the ocean. She is, she says, a positive person, and so when the Romeos on the dating app slung her profane pics or described themselves as “married but looking for other opportunities” they were fodder for stories to make her friends laugh, rather than a cause for genuine despair.
“I have an optimism bias. I just think the best of everyone,” she says.
Yet, after she laughed off her disappointments over cocktails, she couldn’t deny the sting of loneliness she felt when her friends went home to their husbands.
“When you go into the dating apps, you have to open yourself up,” she says. “I say to my daughter, if you go into every situation just looking for the red flags, love and kindness can’t actually exist in that world.” But she was still careful. Or so she thought.
Max Tavita had platinum blond hair, a career in finance, a swanky flat and had just returned from a 16-year stretch working in New York, via a brief stint in London. He wasn’t the first promising prospect, but he quickly became Tracy’s favourite. Despite his flash credentials, he struck her as humble and attentive.
This story is from the May 2024 edition of Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2024 edition of Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
BATTLE FOR THE THRONE
As word of a judgement leaks from the courtroom where the Murdochs have been tussling for power, those close to the throne suggest that the battle for the world’s most powerful media empire has only just begun.
AFTER THE WAVE
Twenty years ago, the Boxing Day tsunami tore across the Indian Ocean, shredding towns, villages and holiday resorts, and killing hundreds of thousands of people from Indonesia to Africa. Three survivors share their memories of shock, terror and loss with The Weekly.
Escape to the country
Raised in New Zealand, design icon Collette Dinnigan opens the doors to her family homestead, where treasures from her travels rest side by side with the sights, sounds and style of her Australian life.
Ripe for the picking
Apricots are at their peak sweetness now, take inspiration from our savoury and sweet ideas.
Grill-licious
The backyard barbecue has come a long way from the days of chargrilling some snags. Try our fresh batch of recipe inspiration for your next cook-up.
Reclaim your brain
Perimenopause made me realise that our brains need looking after.
Long and the short of it
If youre considering a chop and change, this is how to nail a hair transformation.
Have we lost the art of conversation?
In a world of thumbs-up emojis and one-way voice memos, are we forgetting how to converse? The Weekly engages in an experiment in listening and genuine two-way chatting.
Farewell, 1936-2024 Maggie T
At Lhe Weekly Maggie labberer was and remains our guiding light the epitome of elegance with a whip-smart intellect, naughty sense of fun and innate kindness. She was a one-off.
MEL SCHILLING Cancer made me look at myself differently
One year on from going public with her bowel cancer diagnosis, Mel Schilling reveals where she's at with her health journey and how it's changed her irrevocably.