How Did It All Begin??

Awww, what a sweet story, JessicaKate. Man, I'm such a sap for long distance romance.  I love hearing all these stories.

I agree Jewlz...these just make me smile - love it!

Awww, what a sweet story, JessicaKate. Man, I'm such a sap for long distance romance.  I love hearing all these stories.

I agree Jewlz...these just make me smile - love it!

Thanks.   My brother thinks he's going to write a screenplay about it.

My fiance and I met almost exactly 16 years ago on my first day of school in 8th grade. He sat next to me and I thought he was soooo cute but then I was like 'oh jeez, why do i have to sit next to him in science?' Because that was my best subject and I was a worker-bee in that class. Turns out he was thinking the same thing (I found out long after) and we bonded over fighting for dominance over the labs we did. For me it was 'oh he's a really great friend' but he says he knew he loved me the whole time *insert awww's* Then after we were moved apart we grew apart and then my freshman year of high school, we became reacquainted and became fast friends. I started liking him but I thought 'no way I have a chance with him' and he was thinking the same thing. Two years later, we started dating and even though we've been separated by distance numerous times, we've always stayed together through everything. He really is my soul mate

I've spent a couple of days off & on reading through everyone's stories & loving them. So, here's mine:

Of all things, David & I met on Facebook in September of 2008. At the time, the only people on my friends list were people that I actually knew in real life. One day I got a friend request from someone I didn't know. The guy was from England and his avatar was a red-headed cartoon character a la South Park. I thought to myself, "who the heck is this cartoon guy & why does he want to be my friend?" I hovered over the "ignore" button for a minute, but then decided to give him a chance. After all, "if he turns out to be a freak, I can always delete him."

This freaky cartoon character and I eventually started chatting online. I loved his intelligence and quirky sense of humor. He made me laugh and he made me think, two things I had been missing for too long. What more could a girl ask for? Of course when I eventually heard his voice on the phone, I melted & giggled like a little schoolgirl. I eventually found out how he had come to send me a friend request. He had just gone through an ugly breakup and decided to look for pretty girls around the world to chat with and find out what it's like where they live. He actually found me in one of his friend's "Lil' Green Patch!" and thought I was pretty, so sent me the request. awww

After months of talking online & on the phone, David made a trip to the States, in February. I was so nervous meeting him at the airport. Like a few well meaning friends said, for all I knew, he could have been a serial killer and like he was told, maybe I wasn't even a woman. LOL I was a little late & his plane was a little early. I only admitted to him a few months that I actually had to drive right past where he was waiting outside at the airport & I was so nervous that I considered that I could just keep driving. LOL We spent just over a week together talking, laughing and getting to know one another better. He isn't a serial killer & I am a woman, so it was all good. Part of the trip was a beautiful Valentine's weekend hidden away in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains. We spent hours talking about the silliest things & giggling. By the end of the trip, I knew without a doubt that I was in love and so did he. But we also knew that it wasn't going to be an easy relationship. It's a long way across the ocean.

As soon as he disappeared through the security gate at the airport, I missed David & felt an intense emptiness. I knew that we had to be together again as soon as possible. Within a few weeks, I had planned a trip to England over Easter week. It was finally time to put my passport to work. We spent a wonderful week together. David introduced me to his friends and family. We had Easter dinner with his parents. We had a party with his friends. I adored all of his friends and family.

Walking around England, I felt like I had come home. I love all the old architecture, the history, and even the rain. We explored Warwick Castle, Old Lincoln & Lincoln Cathedral. We walked around Nottingham in the rain. And I fell more in love with David than ever. We had talked about getting married before. But on this trip to England, I knew that I would be very happy to marry David and live in England. Strangely, the Southern Belle had found home in England.

Come June, it was David's turn again to travel to the States. He wanted to schedule his visit this time when my daughter, Abbie, would be out of school and we could try spending more family time together and see how things went. Boy, was it ever a trial by fire! In the two weeks that David was in the States, we drove all over the southeast. We visited friends in Alabama and vacationed in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We also made day trips all over the mountains of North Carolina. We had a wonderful time and made great memories. My dad even made a trip from Michigan to North Carolina to meet David. Not only did David's & my love deepen, but our relationship and love as a family with Abbie & Alex grew. This time when we left David at the airport, it was almost impossible for all of us. You can't just leave a family member at the airport, not knowing when you will see them again. It was heartbreaking.

Once David was back in England, he told me that he definitely wanted to marry me. He had been a bit hesitant before. I asked him what was different now & he told me, "I can't imagine my life without you and the kids and I don't want to be apart from any of you a moment longer than I have to be." So, we knew we were going to get married and the kids and I were going to immigrate to England. We even talked about staying in England when the kids and I came over for Christmas and getting married in January. But, David still had not proposed. I wondered what he was waiting for. We knew that it was a good possibility that we were not going to be able to see one another again until the kids and I came for Christmas, but in order for us to even get there to stay, I had to apply for a fiancée visa and no proposal is a bit of a problem. LOL In the wee hours of the morning on July 12, 2009, over the phone, David asked me if I would marry him. Of course I said, "YES!" No, it wasn't the most romantic of proposals, but we knew we were engaged and where our lives were headed. Later on, I found out that while Dad was visiting, David actually asked his permission to marry me and they set up plans for David to surprise me by showing up at Thanksgiving & proposing. It would have been a great surprise & very romantic, but now as we actually approach Thanksgiving, I'm glad he didn't wait.

Our wedding plans changed several times along the way, but we finally settled on a small wedding in Michigan, where I moved this past summer after he returned to England. It was difficult to plan a wedding together when you have an ocean between you. But then again, he probably had any groom's ideal situation with an ocean between him & all the wedding madness. LOL  There were lots of times when the stress just seemed to be too much. I wanted to just cancel the whole thing. I cried and begged him to just go to the courthouse to get married, but he never gave in.

On November 7, 2009, I married my best friend; the man who reminded me how to laugh & think deeply too;  the man who loves my kids and who my kids love; the man who I cannot imagine living my life without. It was a beautiful wedding. I couldn't have asked for it to be any better, other than to have had more of our friends and family present, who couldn't make it. I've always laughed at people talking about how they felt like they were in their own little world with their SO, but happened to us that day. As we stood there in front of our friends and family, holding hands, everyone else was a blur. David was all I could see, all I could hear as we whispered little messages to one another. I don't even know how I managed to repeat my vows, after choking up, because I never heard anything else the minister said that day. LOL

So now we are happily married, but sadly separated by an ocean again. I have just applied for my passport renewal & name change, along with the kids' first passports. Hopefully they will arrive quickly and as soon as they do, we're applying for our settlement visas. We're hoping to begin the new chapter of our lives in England in just a few weeks.

I like to remind David that I almost ignored him and almost kept driving right past him, but I sure can't delete him from my life now. 

EnglishHolly - I LOVE IT!!! That is well written and I swear a lot of our "stories" seem liek fantasy's to most people but I get it!
Congrats!

As for me I am getting married Saturday to the love of my life and this week is the whirl wind of activities and family meeting and it just could not be better.  Kevin's 2 best friends are even flying over to be part of the magical day.

Keep us posted on the trials and tribulations of actually getting to the UK - I know it wont be easy to be separated again or actually packing my life up as I know it and heading across the pond.  Is it worth it? Hell YEAH~

I was thinking of you earlier, Zoya, as I noticed your wedding date. I hope you have an absolutely fabulous day! I couldn't believe how wonderful and magical everything turned out for us. It was kind of a shock. I didn't have a wedding the first time around, but I am sure it wouldn't have been anything like my marriage to David. Our relationship is just full of magic & wonderment. I am wishing you all the best & a quick transition to the UK!

Loving the stories being posted! 

I'll post my own as well.

As I may have mentioned on the board before, my husband and I met in World of Warcraft.  I became addicted to the game after Hurricane Katrina (i was going to Uni in Louisiana) came through and ended the semester at Uni as well as my job.  So I played to fill the hours.  I reached the top level and decided to look for a guild to join, and I picked one out of the list at random and thought "may as well try this clan" and made an application.  I was to be interviewed before joining and so, after nearly 30 minutes of trying to get the voice chat to work, I logged in and joined the channel to speak with the mysterious Sokah.

Sokah: "Hello Navie how are you?" In a suave british accent.

Navie: "Im fine, thanks... you?"

Sokah: "Bloody hell, you're a girl!"

Of all the clans in all the servers in all the world (of warcraft)... I had to walk into his.

That Sokah was to become my future husband.  We got to chatting regularly, almost everyday, in the clan voice chat.  He, the valiant human paladin with the huge... um... hammer of smiting. And I, the dainty elfin druid.  We played together and chatted for months before I finally came to stay with him for a week in the summer.  The rest? history.  We married 1.5 years later and here I am, now carrying our first child...

...a level 1 human.

Yeah, our kid doesn't stand a chance. 

Sokah: "Bloody hell, you're a girl!"

...a level 1 human.

Yeah, our kid doesn't stand a chance. 

PMSL Too funny! I love it!

 Everyones stories are so wonderful and they have made me officially tear up.

 Miss Shrubbery, Whoa!!! That can barely be classified as a coincidence, huh!! Magical.

 UKY should publish a collection of these stories, they are way more interesting than any Ann Coulter book, and she has loads!

My cousin told me that I needed to talk to her friend Mark in England on line, she thought that we would get a long well. I got home from work one day and there was an email from Mark, we started talking and about nine months later he came out her too meet me.

We spent to wonderful weeks together, the night before he was to go back to England he told me father he wanted to Marry me. We were a part for one year while we got the paper work together. He was back in the U.S for six weeks and we were married.

Now we are facing our fifth anniversary we are working on moving to the U.K I am excited and scared at the same time.

I just read this entire thread from beginning to end. Aww, there are some amazing stories out there. I think we are all very lucky

Well, might as well start from the beginning. I'm going to take you way back...here goes:

I'm 24. I got married when I was 20 to a man that I had been dating since I was 14. We were married for 2 years. In June of 2008, we began to have problems. I honestly think we were too young to get married, but that's a completely different post and story altogether. Anyway, so by September 2008, we had separated and he was already seeing someone else. Divorce was final in March 2009.

Anyway, I digress. On Facebook, there is an application called Social Me. On this application, you can tag people based on their pictures or send them notes or flirt with them and what not. My picture was of me bent over with my tongue sticking out (it's not as bad as it sounds, haha), so I receive a message from DB something about me sticking my tongue because the hot mustard was too spicy and nice eyes. I actually have the message (and every note he ever sent me, plus all the e-mails and MSN chats) framed with postcards that I got in London when we actually met up. We began talking frequently and finally after two months on Social Me, we switched to MSN with the occasional flirt on Social Me or funny post of Facebook. We both admitted early on that we liked each other and by October, we were already talking about meeting up in England. During this time, he actually got together with someone, but later admitted that he never wanted to be with her, but couldn't deal with how he felt about me. I was crushed of course, but I stuck by his side as a best friend. They broke up in December. The plans to meet up in February are back on, so we can see if there is any truth to these feelings. We had been chatting for six months at this time. I was able to convince my best friend at the time to make the trek to England in February.

February 2009, my friend and I flew over the pond, both of us scared out of our minds as we'd never been to England and didn't really know what to expect. Well, let me tell you, my friend was a NIGHTMARE. She lost her passport before we even got to our hotel and expected our cab driver would have returned it, she was angry because the outlets were different, angry because the street signs were in different places, angry because the food wasn't amazing...I tried to take it all in stride. So DB comes into London on a Friday (he's actually from 2 hours south of London) and was originally supposed to stay for three nights but couldn't handle my friend's attitude. Again, I digress. We met up at a pub and I actually had to have my friend talk to him on the phone because I'm terrible with directions. I finally see him through the window and my heart is about to jump out of my chest. He comes in, we say hi and I introduce him to my friend. He immediately goes to the bar and gets us drinks. We had a fantastic two days together, we were able to steal time away where it was just the two of us. There was one moment where we were just sitting outside on some steps and were completely oblivious to the people around us. We were in our own little world chatting away and loving it. When the time came for him to leave, it was hard to read him. I knew there was something there but at times it had been hard to tell if those feelings were reciprocated by him. I asked him: "Will we see each other again?" and he SHRUGGED!!! All I could do was frown and give him a hug. Well he texted me right when he got home and he wanted me to come down and stay with him, which of course I couldn't do, but we immediately started talking about when we would see each other again.

After the London trip, it was decided that he would come see me at the end of March. And three weeks after meeting him in London, I picked him up at the airport and it felt like "home" being in his arms. We had a fantastic 10 days together here. And we had the house to ourselves because my family was in Hawaii, though he did meet my older brother and his wife. We actually went to a soccer game together. And they really liked him. Saying goodbye was so hard. We both cried and held on for as long as we could before he had to go through security. I actually had one of the British Airways lady come over and hug me and tell me it would be okay. I bawled like a baby.

As soon as he got home in April, I booked a trip to go over for two weeks in June. I told my mom and she was like: "I hope he isn't Chester the Molester." Haha! Holy crap, were those the longest two months ever?! There were tears, there were laughs and a lot of love through e-mails and snail mail. June rolls around and at this time, I'm 23 years old flying to a foreign country by myself. I was terrified until I saw him and I felt reassured again. I got a huge hug and a kiss. I also got to meet his brother at the airport because he was driving so we didn't have to take the train. Once we got to his house, I was able to meet his mom and his sister. They were so welcoming and lovely. We all ended up getting drunk and playing monopoly that night. It was so much fun. Those two weeks flew by so quickly. In that time, we went to a festival and I met the rest of his family, who were all equally lovely. And we also went to a family wedding. I got to meet his nan! Such a sweet woman!

When I got home, we didn't know who was going to travel next. Eventually, I decided that I would because I have a flexible job that allows me to do so. So a month after I returned home from my June trip, I made the trek back to the UK for a 3 month stay. Lemme tell you, the Immigration Officer was not impressed with my traveling schedule like I was. Needless to say, I was interviewed and questioned for several hours. Poor DB was freaking out. They wouldn't let me contact him until 2 hours into the process. My 3 months in England were amazing. We just did normal couple things, bowling, movies, dinners out, going on walks, going to pubs. Plus, before I came over, DB found me a softball team to play on (I've played since I was 9 and he knew what a big part of my life it was) and I played for most of the summer and even played in a tournament with DB supporting me 100%. He was there rain or shine. I'd never had that before from a man.

I returned to the States in October and he decided that he would come for Christmas and New Years. He'd never had a big Christmas and he absolutely loved it. This was when he met the rest of my family. Besides not being able to understand him all the time, everyone got along with him fantastically. It couldn't have gone better. AND I was able to hold back the tears this time at the airport (trust me, I'm not a pretty crier).

So now, here it is January 2010, I'm going over at the end of March until the middle of April and hopefully, I'll have no trouble getting through Immigration since it's been 5 months since my last visit.

And then we've got super secret plans  for the summer with me ending up in the UK permanently at the end of September...only 9 months away.

From this relationship I've learned never to him for granted. Life is too short and what we've found, people search their whole lives looking for. We consider ourselves lucky to be with one another and we always find ways of showing our love! And though we took the hard way to get here, we wouldn't change a thing about it. Not one!

Hi all, I'm new here, but I'd thought I'd share my story.  In December of 2008, my best friend and I decided we would go to Australia after college graduation and travel and work on 1 year visas.  We left in June of 2009 and stayed in Sydney for a bit and then went on to Brisbane to find work because money was getting tight. 

Jobs didn't pan out in Brisbane so I went online and found some work hostels to go do fruit picking at and came across one called Workers and Divers in Bundaberg.  We booked our spots and headed to Bundy (I blogged my trip here if anyone is interested www.penguinspam.wordpress.com).  My friend and I were in separate housing for the first time and I was put in a unit with 7 guys and 1 other girl.  I had a few conversations with the people I was living with, but mostly hung out with my friend in her room. 

The third day we were there, the hostel manager let everyone drink in the hostel (usually not allowed so people make it to work).  Long story short, I ended up drinking two bottles of champagne, flirting with one of the guys in my unit, and stumbling home with him (he had to pull me out of a ditch ).  I was a little worried the next day, I had to go to work at 5 am, but I kissed him goodbye and hoped it would not be awkward.  After that we both started staying up late so we could hang out together (it was sooo hard to get privacy in a tiny house with 8 other people in it).  We were pretty much inseparable, then he had to leave. 

He was traveling with his cousin and they had more site seeing to do, he had put it off for about a month for me.  So they left and it was terrible, but they came back a week later and stayed for a few days because they were going north.  My friend and I left the work hostel shortly after he left the second time because we were both miserable and most of our other friends we had made left.  We kept in contact and his work visa was ending so he had to go back to England.  After thinking about it for awhile I ended up leaving Australia early, I had made a lot of money fruit picking and I wanted to use it to visit him.  So 5 months after being in Australia, I went home and then went to England to visit him on December 11 and stayed for 2 weeks.

I had an amazing time there, we e-mailed each other at least twice a day, and got on Skype whenever we could, talked on the phone on the weekends.  He came out to visit me in MN on March 25th and just left on April 5.  We talked about what we were going to do next and looked at every option we could think of.  Then when he got on Skype the day after he left, he asked me to marry him (he didn't want to do it on Skype, but realized on the plane home he really couldn't wait anymore). 

So the plan is now that I am going to work for 3-4 months and save and then go out to the UK to move in and get married   We're going to wait to have an actual ceremony in the US because I have a lot more family here than he does in the UK.  I'm so happy and excited right now, it still seems far off, but I'm just glad I will never have to get on a plane again or watch him go and wonder when I will see him again.

Hi all, I'm new here, but I'd thought I'd share my story.  In December of 2008, my best friend and I decided we would go to Australia after college graduation and travel and work on 1 year visas.  We left in June of 2009 and stayed in Sydney for a bit and then went on to Brisbane to find work because money was getting tight. 

Jobs didn't pan out in Brisbane so I went online and found some work hostels to go do fruit picking at and came across one called Workers and Divers in Bundaberg.  We booked our spots and headed to Bundy (I blogged my trip here if anyone is interested www.penguinspam.wordpress.com).  My friend and I were in separate housing for the first time and I was put in a unit with 7 guys and 1 other girl.  I had a few conversations with the people I was living with, but mostly hung out with my friend in her room. 

The third day we were there, the hostel manager let everyone drink in the hostel (usually not allowed so people make it to work).  Long story short, I ended up drinking two bottles of champagne, flirting with one of the guys in my unit, and stumbling home with him (he had to pull me out of a ditch ).  I was a little worried the next day, I had to go to work at 5 am, but I kissed him goodbye and hoped it would not be awkward.  After that we both started staying up late so we could hang out together (it was sooo hard to get privacy in a tiny house with 8 other people in it).  We were pretty much inseparable, then he had to leave. 

He was traveling with his cousin and they had more site seeing to do, he had put it off for about a month for me.  So they left and it was terrible, but they came back a week later and stayed for a few days because they were going north.  My friend and I left the work hostel shortly after he left the second time because we were both miserable and most of our other friends we had made left.  We kept in contact and his work visa was ending so he had to go back to England.  After thinking about it for awhile I ended up leaving Australia early, I had made a lot of money fruit picking and I wanted to use it to visit him.  So 5 months after being in Australia, I went home and then went to England to visit him on December 11 and stayed for 2 weeks.

I had an amazing time there, we e-mailed each other at least twice a day, and got on Skype whenever we could, talked on the phone on the weekends.  He came out to visit me in MN on March 25th and just left on April 5.  We talked about what we were going to do next and looked at every option we could think of.  Then when he got on Skype the day after he left, he asked me to marry him (he didn't want to do it on Skype, but realized on the plane home he really couldn't wait anymore). 

So the plan is now that I am going to work for 3-4 months and save and then go out to the UK to move in and get married   We're going to wait to have an actual ceremony in the US because I have a lot more family here than he does in the UK.  I'm so happy and excited right now, it still seems far off, but I'm just glad I will never have to get on a plane again or watch him go and wonder when I will see him again.

That's an awesome story. Congratulations on your engagement!

When I was 18 (in 2003), I went on a trip to Spain for my high school graduation with my best friend.  Her parents insisted that we spend part of the time on an organized tour, so we booked a Contiki tour (for young people, from 18-35) of Madrid and Barcelona.  The first night we were in Barcelona, the tour guide took the group to this cave-like bar that sold cheap sangria and beer by the pitcher.  The whole night is a little bit fuzzy thanks to too much sangria but at some point I started talking to an English guy named Benji who had been drinking too much beer.  The rest of the group was leaving to go to a club but I don't do clubs and Benji told me that he didn't either.  So we decide to take a cab back to the hotel together.  The rest of the evening is very fuzzy but long story short, I woke up the next morning in his bed, my virginity gone! 

We hung out for the rest of the trip, 3 more nights, but I think I was just trying to make myself feel better for losing my virginity drunkenly to a stranger (I was a Good Kid in high school).  After we got home, we exchanged a few e-mails but quickly lost touch and I definitely never thought I'd ever talk to him again, much less see him.  I was mostly not very impressed by him and kind of thought he was a dick, to be honest.

Fast forward to the end of 2007 and I'm bored one night so I decide to look for him on facebook, using the few e-mails we'd exchanged to remember his last name!  We become facebook friends and exchange a few messages and comment once or twice on pictures or statuses during the next two years but mostly don't talk.  I mean, I have about 450 facebook friends, it doesn't mean much.

Fast forward again to last October (2009), when I get a facebook message from Ben (Benji being an unfortunate youthful nickname), telling me he's thinking about a move to New York in the near future.  We start talking incessantly for months and really actually hit it off.  I find out that he lost his virginity to me, too!  I had had no idea.  Eventually, the chatting turned into video chatting and I made a thinly veiled bet with him designed to get us to see each other sometime in the near future.  Before the bet even starts, though, I got tipsy and overtired one night in early January and told him that I thought I might be having feelings for him.  After initial protestations that we should leave off the topic until we see each other again, we finally do talk to each other about them and became "It's complicated" and eventually "In a relationship with" on facebook.  I booked a flight at the end of the January for the end of February and spent 12 days with him in Kent.  Now, we're trying to figure out how to save enough so that we can get married (a little prematurely for my comfort, but if I've learned anything from these boards, there's not a whole lot of other choice) and I can move over sometime in the next year.  He's coming to New York in June and I can't wait!