Picture taken at our home in February 2007 Over the past year, many of you have commented "I can't believe how you met!" or "Did you really meet online?!". Well "yes" and "yes" and here's a little more on how it happened.
At the time we both played Backgammon online in MSN Zone regularly. If you have never played, this is how it works; you sign in, pick a room from the dozen or so available, and then choose a table to sit at from the 60 tables in each room. There were enough rooms and tables, that you'd have to arrange to meet a friend to play, as the chances were low you'd just bump into each other.
So on this particular Saturday morning we were both logged into the same room. I was just popping in and out of tables looking at the settings and the name, trying to decide where to sit. I was darting around, not settling anywhere, when an instant message popped up from another user.
The user name was Magic_Christian and he asked "Do you wanna play a game?". So I returned to table 36/room 6 and sat down to play, thinking funny name but okay (I later discovered it's a Peter Sellers film). In these rooms you can type in an instant chat box below the game and most people usually say "Hi, where are you". We did this and discovered we were in the USA & UK and he said "I was a huge Beatles fan and have always wanted to visit". Well that was the start of a chat about The Beatles, our fave songs and differing lives.
As is still the case today, I lost most of the games, but we really connected immediately. So at the end of our games, we arranged to meet again to play and continue our friendship.
And that's how it started, no Match.com or singles chat room. Just a totally fateful decision to send an invite to play by him, and my decision to return to the table and accept his invite. Now you know why I am a firm believer in fate; as I often say to locals here, only the internet could have got together a woman near London and a man in very rural NW Okieland!
It was more than three years before we finally met in person, and it was me that crossed the pond the first time to see if a friendship could become a romance. Probably the most nerve-wracking thing I ever did, but the moment we met 'for real' we knew it was mean't to be. People who knock relationships started online, should stop and think that they are based initially soley on talking. In that lies great strength if they pass the test of time, as you really 'know' the person and it's their mind that draws you in.
So our song is inevitably by The Beatles and summed up our feelings then and now:
Ooh i need your love babe,
Guess you know it's true.
Hope you need my love babe,
Just like i need you.
Hold me, love me, hold me, love me.
Ain't got nothin'but love babe,
Eight days a week.
Love you ev'ry day girl,
Always on my mind.
One thing i can say girl,
Love you all the time.
Hold me, love me, hold me, love me.
Ain't got nothin'but love babe,
Eight days a week.
Eight days a week
I love you.
Eight days a week
Is not enough to show i care.
Ooh i need your love babe,
Eight days a week
Love you ev'ry ...
Eight days a week. eight days a week. eight days a week.
And finally the pendant I mentioned last week, that I had made for the Hubster. On one side it's engraved "I will (L) you always, S" - the (L) is the internet instant message short-code for the word 'LOVE', so it acknowledges how we met.
On the flip side is "8 days a week", our song and how we still feel about each other. We were blessed to find each other in the way we did.
Larry and I met online too Sarah. We both joined a writing website and reviewed each other's work. Two years later I went to Tennessee to meet him and the rest, as they say, is history! Our stories are so similar.
ReplyDeleteHi...
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and was reading your charming story. Ours is similar, though I am the American. We started a LONG time ago, when you had to pay for the internet by the hour!!! We were both on Compuserve (no longer in existence, I don't believe). I had just gotten my computer and went into a chat room for my age group
(40s). He was going to cancel his service but just stopped in the chat room, also for the first time. We were talking as a group and then had a private chat...we talked on the phone the following week (I called him because I didn't want him to have my number-I'm very cautious). The rest is history. That was 1996 and we have been married since 1997. We also did this without "Match.com" or any of those things.
I'm so glad you found each other. My wonderful Brit is the love of my life!!!!
My fiancé and I met in very similar circumstances: an online Fscebook group/forum about use of the English language and grammar. We randomly got chatting on there and the rest is history. We met two years later, got engaged and we're to be married this Christmas.
ReplyDeleteYour story is wonderful, and I loved the necklace! And it's good to see so much happiness online - both in the sense of you meeting and your fantastic blog.