Another newbie introduction!

I've been reading everyone's stories and am so relieved to know that I'm not the only one who met their DB online. I'm the only one of my family/friends to have done that, so they are all a little skeptical. Nice to find a group of people that actually understand.

So here is my story...

Before I met Kelly I wasn't new to online dating. I was so busy with grad school a few years ago and not into bar-hopping, I decided to try online dating services. My criteria were pretty specific and I talked to many guys online and met several, but there was absolutely no chemistry. Either my criteria were wrong, or the online dating thing wasn't for me, I didn't know. But I gave up.

Then last year I met a sailor on deployment through a military morale penpal program. I'd been a member of this program for years as a way to help lonely sailors/soldiers and to pass the time. I never planned on meeting anyone to start a relationship. But we just connected in a way I never expected. He was everything I wasn't interested in - military, older, much taller, divorced, kids, not local - but he turned out to be everything I needed (I just didn't know it!) It was a couple of months before we could even talk on the phone - and that call was only about 2 minutes because the ship phone wasn't working. It was 4 months before we could meet, but 3 days after his ship docked, he arrived at my airport.

It was magic. I'm sure that sounds really corny, but it is the only way I can describe it. We had been careful not to say the 'L' word while we were emailing or chatting, because we wanted to be able to say it in person. I think we were able to last about 2 hours before saying it to each other! lol He didn't meet any of my friends that first weekend, but he met all of my friends 2 months after that. When I told them all later that we met online just a couple months previously, they were shocked. They thought we had been together for years.

It has been just over 12 months since that first email and 9 months since the first meeting. Even though there is 3000 miles of ocean between us, we manage to see each other every couple of months. The plan is for me to move there in January of next year after I finish my work here and find a job there.

So, there is my novel...lol!

And there is proof that it can definitely work - even if you aren't local, even if you don't meet immediately, and even if, at first glance, he isn't what you planned!

Debbie 29/BC DG to Kelly/39/HI/Navy