I said "Hi"..and my usual...."Greetings from CANADA" bit. Thats about all I can remember from our first connection. I, at that point figured out how to get additional information from whom I was speaking with and found the address for Herman's Homepage. I revved up Netscape and feasted my eyes on his portrett.jpg found on his page. I can say, now, that I was smitten from the instant I saw his kind and gentle face.

This started our IRC friendship. Learning more and more as I went, and one afternoon while Herman and I were speaking, he sent me a .wav with his voice recorded. I guess it was then that I realized his name was Herman and not Steiner as I first thought (hehe), but when I heard his voice..again..I was taken back. His voice went with the face and that *sparkle* in my heart was beginning to glow a little stronger.

As many people before me, once you've started mIRC there's no looking back, your hooked before you know what hit you. I was looking forward to connecting and talking with all of these wonderful people from across the world. I figured out how to put people on my /notify list and when I signed on, there were always so many people to talk and talk and talk. Herman and I always made a Direct Chat Connection (DCC) and I always looked forward to finding him on when I connected.

The love began this evening/afternoon (depending on which continent/timezone we were in). I told Herman of a conversation I was having with someone and how annoying he was becoming. He told me ".../ignore might do nicely". Then I was panic striken. In my mind I though "OH NO....What would happen if Herman put me on his /ignore list???" I expressed my fear with him and my desire never to loose him as my best IRC buddy. I decided from that moment on, he would be always a part of my life. He thought the exact about me. That evening, we promised never ever to add each of our names on the dreaded /ignore list.

Cut to the chase....We fell in love. I would have never thought it was possible to love somone without seeing them in real life..touching them...knowing they were for real...Through the wonder of the WWW, we did. All fears not forgotten, and a love that grew with each moment we spent together, we made plans to meet.

Herman flew to frigid Thunder Bay in January 1997. My only expectation when I met Herman in real life was that he was a "REAL PERSON", not some computer program I spoke with everytime I connected to IRC. Well, that fear was almost a reality. The evening he was supposed to arrive, Imagine this...Im waiting...holding my breath...with his welcome red roses, wet palms and racing heart for this man to come through the gate....fewer and fewer walked out...then the flight attendants...and the captains...and then...NO HERMAN??? :(

Turned out he missed his connection in Toronto. He arrived 2 hours later. Poor Herman, after almost 24 hours of travelling, and what seemed an eternity...We melted into each others arms...My Dream had come true. All I ever wanted in a man, in a husband, my my soulmate, walked into my arms that cold dark evening in Thunder Bay on January 15, 1997.

We spent 10 glorious days in Thunder Bay. I introduced him to my best friend Kris from Minneapolis and that Sunday, as we drove past a church in Duluth, MN the "M" word passed our lips. Jokingly he said, "Hey..there's a church - Wanna go get married??. He felt it too! My heart expanded and the rest is almost history.

I visited him for some weeks in the spring of 1997 in Oslo, Norway. We both dreamed of living in each other's part of the world. We'll start in North American, end in Europe.. vice versa...Who knows where we'll end up...we just know that wherever we are...We will be together.

We have a few mottos we live by. "We have Faith in our Fate". "Good Things Come to Those Who Wait". We have conquered many obstacles, but we are determined to let NOTHING stop us from being in love. We are both lucky to have each other and we plan a long glorious life together.

Our Wedding took place...July 18, 1997. For anyone interested, our website is here.

"Dina"