Sunday, December 28, 2008

Before we met in person...

Yes, Bobby and I met online. I had been a member of LDS Mingle for several years, not of my own free will, mind you. I had a friend in Cleveland who kept bugging me to join because surely I would meet the love of my life on the internet. Now, I've always thought online dating to be a little bogus, nevermind the fact that literally thousands of people have had mega success with it. So I joined to appease my friend and promptly began to ignore anything involving the site. Oh, I'd check it now and then, because I was paying for the stupid thing, but I'd never contact anyone or respond to anything that was sent to me. Guys would send me emails all the time and I would look at them, say, "Oh, he's cute" and then delete them. I had this pessimistic idea that I would not find love here.

So, in the summer of 2007, this guy kept sending me emails. Which I would read. Then delete. I checked out his profile once. Nice looking. His name was "Toothman"? What does that mean? Tooth fetish? He has bad teeth? He only dates girls with good teeth? And where does he live? West Virginia? Hmmph...way too far away, even if I was going to email him back.

Finally in early October I get another email from "Toothman", which of course, I read, because if nothing else, I was a faithful email reader. He said something like, "Here's the deal, I've emailed you and you haven't responded. I think you're cute, you actually live within 300 miles of me and I think we'd have fun together. So quit wasting my time and let me know if you aren't interested."

Huh, am I really a meany because I'm not responding to anyone? Yes. Is his somewhat chastising tone appropriate because, like a perfect gentleman, he has sent me 5 or 6 emails which I have proceeded to ignore? Yes. Gosh, a guy who's actually going to call me out on something and not just tuck his tail and go on to the next cute girl online. Hmmm...maybe I should email him.

So, thus began our online relationship. We emailed back and forth for several weeks. We shared a lot with eachother and I really enjoyed getting to know him. Then one day he asked for my number. Uh oh, this could be headed into more serious territory. So I politely refused. Nope, not ready yet, give me another 2 years and maybe then I'll give you my number--because if I actually called him, then that would put this fantasy relationship in the realm of reality. I'm sure Bobby thought I was the biggest pansy in the world. Every email after that he would give me his number and ask me to call him. Finally, I thought, "Maggie, you're a great big dork. It's just a phone call you wuss." So I called him.

Our phone relationship went on for a couple more weeks before he popped the big question, "Do you want to meet in person?" Gulp. Meeting would mean that we actually knew eachother, what we really looked like, who we really were...there would be no turning back from that. I said yes...with just a little panic.

1 comment:

Tony and Erica said...

Sorry we didnt make it through the snow storm to make it to your big day, we tried. Love you much and cant wait to meet you Maggie. I guess we'll see you for Xax's wedding.
Erica and Tony