I want to give you some background as to how this encounter happened. Because it will help you understand just how important Charles and Victoria are to me.

My encounter starts back in Aug. of 1996. I am legally deaf and have been for many years but hearing aides have allowed me to hear. However, Aug. 6, 1996 I went completely deaf. This was a complete and utter shock. I was a mess to say the least. I had to quit work. I had no way to communicate since I never learned Sign Language or how to lip read. For months I toiled and struggled against my life. Days on end I did nothing. Finally I turned to an old friend. I turned on the soap opera of my childhood, Another World. For one hour I could transcend time and space and forget my own world. I started watching about Nov. 19th or 20th. It was soon after Rachel had kicked Carl out of the house.

Now I remember Rachel and Mac and even Rachel and Mitch. She has always been a mainstay of AW. I had watched AW when Carl and she were dating and fell in love with them. (I stopped watching during Justine.) So I was interested in why Rachel had kicked Carl out. Then Rachel started acting really weird and I decided she was pregnant. Well it's a long story but the fact that Rachel might be pregnant really intrigued me. I started watching full time after that. I think it was in early Dec that I made this deduction.

I hold a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and started getting very irritated at how they were writing Rachel's pregnancy. It irked me they never had her have an amnio or even discussed possible problems. Well, believe it or not I got mad enough that I wrote Victoria Wyndham a very long letter. I told her this same story I'm telling you. I wrote this letter Jan. 20, 1997. I also included in it a question regarding Couplets and how to get it to a theater. I really never expected an answer, at least not a quick one. But on Feb. 27th I received a personal postcard from Victoria. (I should say that as of Feb. 3, 1997 my hearing returned to my normal levels. But that didn't remove my fear of it happening again.)

I was so touched that she would bother to write me. I had been so lonely and afraid and turned to a person who should have cared less about me. And here was this letter that boosted my spirits and my hopes. In her note she told me how to get Couplets to my hometown. So I followed her directions, which leads to my encounter and the renewal of my hopes and dreams.

Couplets: Performance Date Aug 23, 1997

August 22, 1997

I first saw Victoria and Charles from the parking lot of the hotel in which they were staying on Friday Aug. 22. They got out of a white stretch limousine. I was to far away to see much but there is something quiet unmistakable about CK's former tresses. I wanted to approach them but thought better of it. They disappeared into the hotel and I went home to wait 24 hours.

August 23, 1997

I conned my parents into taking me out to dinner at the hotel's restaurant were VW and CK were staying. Part of my dream came true there. I got to meet Charles! Ah, what a gentleman. Okay so I am slightly bias for men with British accents, onyx eyes, and pencil mustaches. CK showed up in the dining room in the middle of dinner. Food was soon forgotten! He was very gracious and kind and I have no idea what he said to me! He held my hand while he spoke to me and I was so mesmerized by his soft hand and eyes(that will easily drink you in)that I forgot to concentrate on what he was saying to me. About the time my family and friends left for the theater Charles went back to his room to finish readying for the play. Ahhh what a dream.

The play was fabulous and so much fun. Victoria jumped into my next door neighbor Dave's lap during one part. And CK teased him terribly. I hadn't smiled and laughed so much in over a year. At first I had a hard time believing that I had even managed to get them to my hometown. I almost felt I was watching them on a huge TV screen. I had to keep telling myself that they were only 15 feet in front of me!

After the play everyone was asked to go have some refreshments as Victoria and Charles readyied themselves for the reception. We had to wait about 15 minutes but it went fast. Then the audience was allowed back upstairs for autographs and pictures. I held back. I didn't want for my time with them to be pushed into a millisecond. I wanted the dream to last truthfully. I was the last inline. Finally, it was my turn. I still makes me get all mushy remembering that night.

I walked up to the table and said Hi. I'm Lori. Victoria didn't seem to register who I was. Someone who works with the theater leaned over Victoria's shoulder and said that's Lori Stephenson the one who made this possible. Victoria's face lit-up. I never felt so relieved in my life. I wanted to cry.

About 2 weeks before the play I had written Victoria and told her that I might be completely deaf for the play because I had to fly and that's what seemed to have started the problem the first time. But I never expected Victoria to remember that. The first thing Victoria did and said after she found out who I was, was ask as she pointed to her ears, "Can you hear me?"

I only could mumble a shocked yes. I stood there and got their autographs. Then I handed a painting to Victoria. It was a painting I had done of her just 3 weeks prior with absolutely no art background. She looked at it and started to hand it back. I had to tell her it was for her and that I had a photocopy of it for myself that I had her to sign.

Charles just sat there and watched and signed my things as Victoria and I chatted. She had been my lifeline when I wanted to die so I feel very close to Victoria. But Charles was part of my dream too. If he hadn't been there allowing me to believe that dreams and fantasies can come true, I wouldn't have picked up the pieces of my life and moved on.
So that's my Encounter.