When we traveled to California, I emailed my friends and family to check in and let them know I was okay. I was still alive and up in the clouds somewhere.
I was worried about what my family's response would be as this was so unlike me. When everyone met him, they adored him instantly too. Even my pastor liked him. I wondered if I had entered into some twilight zone, because all of this was just too surreal.
I kept waiting for something bad to happen, for something horrible to come crashing down. This guy was just too good to be true. But nothing ever happened. No bum eye, no false leg, no bald head, no dentures, no criminal history, no kids from a best friend's girlfriend, no weird tattoos of unidentifiable objects, no evil mother-in-law (despite his aunts' best efforts to scare me), no weird cult background, no strange food habits, no skeletons in his closet-and yet despite there being no bad surprises, he was still full of new and fresh adventures-good surprises.
He opened my senses to a new lust for roller coasters. One minute we were in Disneyland, the next we were saying goodbye as he left for his deployment.
He continued to court me from overseas, sending me flowers and jewelry-two things past guys had turned their noses up at for being “too cliché'.” We planned the wedding while he was stationed in Afghanistan. God bless Yahoo instant messenger, e-mail and webcams!
The rest is just another wedding tale. It was simple and elegant. I wore flowers in my hair and walked down the aisle barefoot on my church's grass lawn. We walked off the stage to a little punk pop re-write of Shania's, “Look Like We Made it” and then re-joined relatives for a festive rehearsal dinner where performed a nightclub two-step to Elvis, “Can't Help Falling in Love.”
And now, nearly three years later, we're still going strong-Army strong at that. I'm so glad I took the risk of making that first click of a mouse. I have no regrets. We're still roller coaster junkies and have held on tight through life's own ups and downs (being in the army, deployments, career changes, buying a home, training a dog, normal newlywed stuff)-and still hanging on and enjoying the ride.
Internet dating may not be for everyone, but it's definitely just one of many avenues out there to meeting people and quite possibly, finding love. Though, I have to admit it still makes even me nervous when I hear of other people dating online. The old worries rise up in me of psycho stalkers and murderers preying on innocent people.
Yet, it's not really that different from meeting someone in a bar, or even church. The same personal security safeguards should be put into place-always meet in public places with egress routes, always have emergency plans, and just really get to know the person before riding off into the sunset with them. Ok, so I didn't even follow the last one, but how many of us really did?
