For those of you who don't know, my wife and I met on the internet. Yeah, took me a few years to openly admit that. Even though I'm finding it a bit more common I think the practice of finding your soul mate online bordered a bit on the pathetic and desperate and brought on images of the creepy, lonely guy sitting in his dark, ratty apartment preying on unsuspecting kids. You've heard the stories, mail order Russian brides or "To Catch a Predator". I guess now there are dozens of online matchmaking sites but the two big ones back then were eHarmony and Match.com. I tried eHarmony but it was too much of a "trust me, we'll find the right one for you" and more often than not you'd be matched up with someone SOOOOO not compatible with you thus leading to the awkward attempts to disengage yourself without coming off as insensitive or hurtful. But Match.com was a nice little system. I managed to meet several nice people and my overall experience was rather positive.So back in time to December 30th, 2003. There I was living alone in my apartment (not dark or creepy), the year winding down and very few prospects for the coming year. The day before, on the 29th, I perused the various online profiles. It was kinda like trying to select someone for your fantasy football league. There were some of the old standbys, those that hadn't found anyone yet so their profiles were constantly popping up. I remember doing some quick searches and coming across Julie's profile. Of course being a guy the first thing I noticed was how gorgeous this woman is. Did a quick once over of her playing stats and thought wow, she's an amazing woman. But having the confidence and self-esteem of a Leonard Hofstadter (see Big Bang Theory) I quickly dismissed her with a "she'd never be interested in me." So it was nine years ago today that I got a message that said, "The following people are interested in you" or as they would say they "winked" at you. Just so you know winking is today's "Poke" in Facebook. Anyways, would you believe it? My Julie was one of those winkers. To say I was dumbfounded would be a major understatement. Lacking any real common sense I just winked back, thinking that anything beyond that might come off as excessive or just plain needy. I did come to find out later that right off the bat I kinda pissed her off. See, Julie had just canceled her subscription to Match.com, having had very little success. Just goes to prove that most men are colossal tools, especially those from the OC. In order for her to respond to my "wink" she had to go back in and sign up for an additional month just so she could send me a message essentially saying, "Hey, A-hole, here's my number, CALL!"
So we dated, virtually, for over two weeks before finally meeting in person. For one reason or another it didn't seem to work out for us to meet but we did talk every night from any where to an hour and a half to three hours about any and all things. I think that sold me more than anything else, that we connected so well on so many things without the distraction of being together physically. I'll leave that to your imagination, no details here. And call me a sentimental old fool but I still have copies of a few of our first emails to each other. Again, I think of all the gifts I've received in my life, the birth of my Sam and finding my Julie are the two most wonderful gifts of all. But I still think Julie lost a bet.
I don't expect a lot of folks to relate to this story. I figure most of you met your significant other either through high school, college, a class reunion or perhaps rehab. But hopefully this might make you think back on the time when you and your mate first met and the magic you felt and hopefully you still carry that magic in your heart now. You know any day you can spend with your love is a great day.
Happy anniversary, honey! I love you THHHHHHHIIIIISSSSSSS much!
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