I was housebound for a while, medical stuff. I was in a new town, up at wierd hours because of the meds, lonely and bored. A bunch of my friends from college arranged to hook up with me online. Very sweet. Wonderful folks. But they had real lives and real jobs and weren't up at 2am. Still, internet=SOME human contact, and typing was therapy so I stayed online a lot through my recovery.

Someone I didn't know posted a public comment that made me giggle, and I sent a note to thank him for the laugh. I didn't mean anything by it. Hell, I've done it here. He was a class A night owl, and we started chatting. Had tons in common, never got tired of talking, made each other laugh. I didn't want an online relationship, neither of us wanted a long distance relationship. Because of a misunderstanding early on in our conversations, he thought I lived on the other side of the country (I still do it, when someone online asks where I'm from...I don't immediately think they're asking where I AM). We were just friends, I insisted. Mind you, my heart didn't race when my college friends logged on, but dang it...we were just friends.

One day I was telling him about the amazing storm that was going on outside my window, and he thought it was odd....one had just passed through his town. Misunderstandings got cleared up all of a sudden, this wonderful guy lived 3 hours away from me. That's it. But I'm a moron, I didn't want a long distance relationship. I pulled away fast. He, luckily, is much smarter than me...recognized a good thing when he saw it, and when I ran he chased. It took him weeks to calm me down enough to go back to being friends, then MORE weeks to convince me we should meet. Once we did, and the chemistry sparkled, and my knees nearly buckled when he hugged me, I gave up all resistance. Nonetheless, he was so busy trying not to scare me away that it took me three whole hours to trip him into bed. I think of it as making up for lost time .

That was 8 years ago this coming thursday. It took us 4 and a half years to get our lives into the same city, but it was well well worth it. We're still sickenly happy. He still makes me laugh, and my knees still wobble. The best part of my day is finding new ways to make him smile. He still thinks I'm fascinating, or at least can convince me he does . I couldn't imagine wanting anything else.

G