I had heard of the chatrooms on the internet but it had never appealed
to me. Talking to total strangers that you cannot see struck me as too
strange. One day I was surfing the net when I discovered MSN's chat
rooms and making up a nickname decided to just watch and see what all
the fuss was about. There on the screen were twenty or so people
chatting away about anything and everything. As I studied the
conversations afraid to join in and expose myself as a 'newbie', I was
drawn to one person. She was intelligent, witty and expressed a love of
the UK, my home. She was from California a part of the States I had
never seen but was interested in. So summoning up all my courage I said
hi and introduced myself. We began to chat and I found that it was very
relaxed to the point that I was amazed when the conversation ended we
had been chatting for three hours totally ignoring everyone else in the
room. We parted company saying that we hoped we would bump into each
other again. All that next day I wondered if that was just a polite
goodbye or if she really wanted to continue our conversation. That
evening I logged on, half of me hoping she would be there the other
half dreading she would'nt. Sure enough she was'nt in the chatroom and
I sat at the computer screen only half reading the conversations that
flashed up before me. Then her name appeared and with the usual "hi
room" she said "hi Vince". My life suddenly became brighter in that
instant. I kept telling myself it was crazy, here was a woman I only
just met, hardly knew and yet I had missed her all day. We chatted
again, and the hours vanished along with the other chatters leaving us
alone in the room. I had been married and dated countless times in my
then forty years of life but never had someone taken my interest so
completely as this stranger from across the sea. We discussed
everything, our likes, dislikes, our troubles and our pleasures and the
more we talked the more amazed we became at how much we had in comman.
Weeks went by and every evening we would meet up and talk, the three
hours becoming five then eight. We exchanged pictures both afraid we
would blow it by doing so but as I looked at her picture on my screen I
was amazed at the fact that no one had snapped up this American beauty
in the years since her marriage had broken up. The weeks had become
months and we both admitted we had feelings for each other, our
friendship becoming something far greater. Then came the time that
anyone whose ever had a internet relationship will know....the meeting.
She had said that she would fly to the UK to meet me but I insisted
that I flew to the States. I explained to her my fears that should she
come to me and for some reason we did'nt hit it off then she would be a
woman alone in a strange country where as for a guy it was'nt so bad.
She finaly agreed and a week or two later I found myself on a plane
winging my way to San Diego. We had arranged that I would be met by her
brother who would drop me off at my hotel and that I would ring her
once I had freashened up and she would come over and we would go out
for a meal. Forty five minutes of pacing up and down after I made the
call there was a knock on the door. I opened the door to the most
beautiful woman I have ever known. Both of us nervous as hell we kissed
hello. We looked into each others eyes and that kiss became another
filled with all the emotions that had delevoped over the months of on
line chatting. I stayed for two weeks taking her out after she finished
work at the local hospital. And we fell head over heels in love. I
returned home, and missed her like crazy, the online chat now seeming
so pale in comparison with holding the woman I loved in my arms. She
missed me too and so I jumped on a plane and went back this time for a
month. This went on for five visits each time I would extend my return
ticket because we could'nt bear to part. I finally asked her to marry
me and she agreed having discussed the fact she wanted to move to the
UK to be with me. It is now two years later, Christmas 2000 and Linda
is here for the holidays. This coming year we are to marry and Linda is
finalizing things prior to her move to the UK for good. My family and
friends love her to bits and I feel like the luckest man on the face of
the earth. So for all you out there that read the internet horror
stories of romances gone bad, take heart they can work out. Love is a
wonderful thing and if true will over come both time and distence.
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