SLOWHAND & MOLLY

Our Internet love story may not be as dramatic as some of the other on line relationships that I've read about. It's really tough to describe the incredible "bond" Wayne and I have. Lets just begin with our favorite chat room Sundowner's Lounge At Hit The Beach. My chat handle was "Molly" and Wayne's was "Slowhand". Our group of friends came together actually at another chat site (1995) and when that site became too crowded, we moved to the present location. That was about *guessing here* February 1996.

For me "chatting" was a release from reality in my personal life. I had a very bad marriage, job, and other personal issues that made nightly chatting with my friends such fun! Us gals would get together and talk about "girl" things and then some of the guys would stroll through and that's when things got interesting! I remember the very first time I saw Slowhand (Wayne) log on! Wow!! I sat back literally in my chair when I read his name *blushing here* I thought, "Man, this guy can't be for real!" Well yes he was! He was absolutely charming! He hailed from New Hampshire and typed with the cutest country lingo I'd ever read. It's not actually anything in particular that he said.....it was a "feeling" I had about this man that he was and is simply incredible! Wayne would enter the room and all the gals would rally back and forth trying to get his attention. I thought on many occasions, "he's not interested in me" so, I didn't make my attraction for him quite so obvious......LOL......or so I thought. Anyway, we'd all chat in a group situation with Wayne being the center of all conversation. He was too precious! Sometimes he got so much attention from my gal pals and I, that other men in the room would usually log off or go to another chat room as they were feeling a bit jealous of him. It wasn't long though before the "core" group of regulars (men and women) became great friends!

After my marriage broke up in November 1996, I found that I needed my friends in the chat room so much more! They were forgiving, caring and loved me in spite of things I'd done in real life. This is the time Wayne and I became extremely close. By then, most of our chat friends had downloaded the chatware called "Powwow" (before instant messaging became popular) and we would all go there when things became too slow in our regular chatroom. Wayne and I always found each other and, after greeting and chatting with our friends, we'd go into private chat to be alone. *Gawd* this man was too much! He was so polite, I could tell that he was a gentleman. He had gentle expressions in his typing that made it clear to me, he was an absolute dream come true. Well things started to heat up between us so to speak, when we were actually able to "see" pictures of each other. This is the picture he sent me via Internet and this is the picture I sent him via Internet . We both admitted to each other later on that when we exchanged those pictures.......it was at that moment we knew we were in LOVE! So, here I was racing home from my job every night to get logged in so I could be with my Slowhand! My days and thoughts revolved around him! I couldn't get enough of him! He would calm me down when I'd had a bad day and we'd chat for hours about all kinds of things. We discussed our past relationship histories, life, politics and things seemed to make sense when we were together. My friends in real life, as well as family, thought I'd gone bonkers and most still haven't changed their minds! I ate, breathed and dreamed of Slowhand! Well, in the mean time, our friends at Sundowner's Lounge had planned a huge get together in Altoona, Pennsylvania and Wayne and I decided immediately we should "meet in person". We started making plans to go.....I was a woman on a mission......I had to meet my Slowhand!! So, we counted down the weeks, days and hours until the May 1, 1997 meeting.

Before we met in real life we had already professed our love for each other and Wayne had already proposed as well. We didn't tell anyone though.....we had our secret and it was ours to keep until after we'd met! In fact, we had already made plans for him to move to Texas. At last, the day came for us to meet and I can't explain how touching him for the first time was! It was as if we'd known each other forever. Meeting in person was the culmination of months of planning, wondering and looking forward to that moment......I will never forget it for as long as I live and I know that Wayne won't either! The next few days went by in a blur but in that time we'd finished making our plans to be together forever, met our Internet chat friends and most importantly proved to many non-belivers that an Internet friendship turned romance can be successful.

To date.....we've been married seven years and we are going strong! We've had many trials that we've gone through, as do all real life relationships. But, the love that we hold for each other always comes through. LOVE will always be there for us as we both understand that God above brings people together (even through the incredible world of cyberspace) in his perfect timing!

~~Written by Karon aka Molly~~