Monday, April 12, 2010

Meeting People Online

My mother used to think it was crazy.  I remember the first time I started on an online dating site and was going to meet a guy for dinner that I had met online she was all "meet in a public place, have your own ride, call me when you get home!"  And admittedly I was nervous.  You hear horror stories about people meeting psychopath's on internet dating sites (or craig's list) and it's creepy!  That first time around I met 4 or 5 guys, never got past one date, but they were all nice guys, just not for me. 

A few years later I found myself lonely and wanting to meet Mr. Right again.  I had just spent a year and a half dating a great guy that was a lot of fun, but just not THE guy.  So I went back to an online dating site.   After going through 7 pages of mini-bio's with about 12 bios on a page I was thinking that the site had been taken over by a bunch of losers with no sense of humor and big egos.  Then I came across one that made me laugh so hard!  I sent him a note telling him I thought he was funny and he sent me a message back.  We started chatting until 3 am every night, and emailing all day long.  This lasted for 3 days.  By this time I thought like I knew him so well that I loved him and didn't care what he looked like in person!  We decided to meet for dinner.  It was pouring rain and we met in front of a movie theatre.  By the time I found parking and walked to the entrance I looked like a drowned rat.  But it was love at first site despite my lack of attractive hair.  That first date lasted until 5 am.  The rest is history.

4 years later we were married. 

But this post isn't about my fantastic Husband!

While planning my dream wedding I came across a bridal site that had talkboards where brides could exchange ideas and offer support about all the wedding stress we were going through.  (Unless you have planned a wedding, you have no idea how hard it is to come up with an guest list that matches your budget, and then making a seating plan where all the guests get to sit with people they like!)

On this site I met a wonderful group of women.  There are 20 of us that regularily chat with each other and are invested in each other's lives.  I have only met 5 or 6 of them in person, but they are the most loving, caring women you will ever know.  They have become my closest friends.  They are supportive and funny and everything you want in a friend!  We have been known to snap pictures of outfits so we can vote on what one should wear out, we talk each other down when one of us is ready to smother our spouse, we blog on another site and challenge each other to be better people, and we are fiercely protective of each other.

As you can tell from my last post, I have not had a good spring so far.  My girls were there for me through it all.  They were texting me, emailing me, sending me messages on facebook, calling me, etc.  I really meant a lot to know they cared so much.  Some of me IRL friend's weren't nearly that attentive!  One of they came to the hospital the night before my surgery and gave me a manicure.  A few other local ones visited.  And the non-local ones were in constant communication with each other and me to find out updates on how I was doing.  Then they did something that really blew me away!  They all chipped in and got me a gift certificate for a housekeeper!  I get two 5 hour sessions with a house keeper to come over and clean my house from top to bottom, because I CAN'T!  It is the most amazing gift.  Much better than flowers!  I am so excited about it!  My husband is very busy and works hard, my kids can only do so much, and I can't do anything!  It will be such a relief to have a clean house.  She will probably even clean the things I skip!  (Like dusting on top of the shelves in the kitchen!)

I am thankful for the internet.  I not only met my wonderful husband, but I have met some wonderful friends along the way too.  :)  Thanks Ladies!!!

6 comments:

Shannon said...

AWWWWW We ♥ U!

Rianne said...

You're an awesome person Leslie, you deserve all of it and more! So glad we all found each other :)

Pixie said...

Awww, that's really wonderful. I can only hope to find a bond like that.

But I did meet my hubby online, too. EverQuest for the win! :)

See? This is the blog I made here before I decided to officially start the word press one because of the way I could insert art into the header super easy. Haha. That was my reason for choosing to use word press. I'm such a goof.

But I'm really glad you're okay and recovering. It has to have been a really rough and scary time and I'm thankful you had such great people to see you through it. Keep on feeling better!

Simone said...

We love you too Leslie and can't wait for our chatty beach getaway one fine day :)

Nik said...

Cause I wasn't enough of a blubbering mess already tonight! lol ♥ you!

Emma said...

Awwwwwwww!! ♥