My Life Has Begun

Hello, I haven't posted here in a while. Not one of you will ever guess the exciting things that are going on for me these days....

You might have noticed me mentioning someone whom I called my "Great Friend". This person has been a positive force in my life for four years now, though we'd never met in person. Our friendship was online, we visited pretty much every day in our yahoo chatroom.

He's the first true gentleman I ever met. Somewhere along the line, I fell in love with him. My biggest dream was that we would meet in person, but I knew it was possible this might never come to pass. My heart swelled with love and joy in the fact that I had him in my life, yet it was breaking from the knowledge that I might never be in the same room with him. I wanted so badly to build a life for myself - I had my job, I had my family, but I didn't have substance. I tried to make plans for my future, but I always came back to the fact that I wanted to include him in them, and I didn't know if that was in the cards, and so I'd lose interest in making plans.

It's been hard, and it's been beautiful, and I've learned more lessons than I can ever tell you.

A few weeks ago he invited me to come and visit him at his home in California. We were in yahoo chat, with voice turned on, and he just said it. I was instantly speechless. I wondered if I'd heard correctly. I wanted to jump up and hug my computer monitor.

From that moment on, I did nothing but plan for this trip. There were many details in need of ironing out. I borrowed suitcases from my mom, and laid them open on my livingroom floor. I packed and unpacked a dozen times as I tried to figure out what to bring. As I went about my days here in my apartment, I would suddenly burst into giggles and hug myself, I just couldn't believe my fondest dream was actually about to come true! For so long, my last waking thought each night had been 'will I ever meet this man whom I love with all my heart and soul?'. Now I fell asleep each night with a wonderful smile on my face.

At first I planned to fly there, but in the end I decided I would take a greyhound bus. I wanted to watch the scenery as I traveled along. Bus travel is quite thrilling, I've always enjoyed it. It's hectic and a little bit messy. A person has to be on the ball - snag a good seat by a window and not too close to the stinky washroom ... if the bus is only partly full, take up two seats ... at stops where all passengers must leave the bus so that it can be cleaned or a bus transfer made, you have to be careful while waiting in the station, because those places are scary - keep an eye on your bags, make sure you get a reboarding pass from the driver, don't miss the call for reboarding, know the door number where you need to line up with the others, get your fantastic seat again when everyone returns to the bus (leave a magazine on the seat). So cool. I love bus travel.

That was two weeks ago - I've been there and back. I had the best experience of my life. I met my Great Friend, and he is even more wonderful in person. I'm in love. I'm happy beyond words and I can't believe my great fortune. The long wait was worth it. Somehow I always knew this would turn out well.

to be continued....