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How We Met |
The Short Story We met online.
The Long Story
In 1997, the internet was a novelty. It was amazing how you could talk to someone who lived on the other side of the country...or even the world. Heather sent a message to Brad, noting that we were both involved with our high school newspaper staffs. This became the premise of our conversation.
Over the next year, we continued talking online. We were friends—buddies—and nothing more. We exchanged school newspapers. The funny thing is Heather would not even give Brad her mailing address. Instead, she made him send mail to her mom's business PO Box. Afterall, there were a lot of crazy people lurking out there. In the summer of 1998, things started changing. It's hard to explain, but things got different. At least one of us was developing feelings for the other. But as Heather was about to start college, she pushed all chances of anything more than friendship aside. That year, and the years following, we continued to talk via the internet. As we became busy with school, our conversations were less frequent. However, we always would eventually find time to catch up. We exchanged pictures through the mail (Heather finally gave Brad her address). In addition to being super nice, Heather noticed Brad was cute. But still...they were friends.
Fast forward to the Fall of 2001. At this point, we had talked online for 4 1/2 years, but we had never talked on the phone and had never met in person. We were both at a point in our lives where we needed someone to talk to—we needed a friend. Heather casually mentioned that if Brad ever wanted to call her, he could. And he did. Our first conversation was over three hours long. We started talking about once a week on the phone, each conversation at least three hours long. Thank God for cell phones! Then, at the end of December, through a conversation, it came out that "more than friendly" feelings were developing. So, we decided to take things to the next level.
We arranged to meet in February. Heather was going to visit a seminary in Kansas City, largely because they would pay for her hotel for two nights. So, she and a friend took a road trip out to Kansas. On the third day, Brad met her there. Of course there were a lot of nerves, during that first meeting. But we both felt incredibly comfortable around each other. The weekend went way too fast, and within the time of 24 hours, everything we felt was confirmed.
Every chance we got, we would visit each other—spring break, summer vacation, Christmas break. And our weekly phone conversations turned into 5-times-a-day phone conversations. Who would have thought being in high school newspaper would help us meet our future spouses? Good thing one of us didn't choose yearbook.
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