Cyberspace — To Boldly Go…

Since I have been blogging I have been meeting some really nice people in cyberspace, some of whom I have linked to in my “Blogs I Visit” section. One of them, Pat, of Pat’s Pond, reminded me of how cool it is to meet people we might never meet were not for the Internet.

I think I might have said it here some time ago, but, if it were not for the Internet, a.k.a. cyberspace, I would have never met my wonderful husband Norm. Norm and I met in a chat room on AOL. He was not the first man I ever met through cyberspace, and he was not the last, but he was the one who won my heart. (More later on how that happened.)

I had determined to boldly go where no one I knew had gone before. I was a college student who never dated. I never seem to find guys who could look past the four wheels I rode upon so, as Norm likes to remind me, it was their loss. About the time I hit graduate school the Internet had become a household phenomenon and provided new opportunities that were not limited by one’s wheels, or lack there of, as it were.

It was the summer of 1995 and I was a bored college senior. AOL or CompuServe were the only Internet service providers at the time, at least in my area, so I joined AOL and began to notice an opportunity to stretch my horizons. I dared myself one day to post a singles ad online. So I did it and within a very short time I began receiving responses. What a thrill and a disappointment at the same time. I neglected to mention in my ad that I used a motorized wheelchair for mobility, but when I responded to an inquiry, I shared that information, much to the dismay of some. Most of the responses I received were not from guys in my area so it was a few weeks before I found someone who was in San Diego.

His name was Doug and he taught junior high school. He didn’t mind that I used a wheelchair and he was glad to know that I was a Christian, like himself, who was just looking for other Christian singles to meet. We decided to meet for lunch on Labor Day at a local restaurant of my choosing. Talk about nervous! He was very nice and we talked easily, and overall it was a wonderful first-time experience for meeting someone online. The good part was that we both decided we were not interested in pursuing another meeting. I drove home from that date proud of myself but a little disappointed because now I had to start all over again. Little did I know what was waiting for me in my e-mail box when I got home. And that will have to wait until another post.