Love at First Byte

or, how I found True Love

( Click here to read the Houston Chronicle's version. )

I joined a fledgling Macintosh community on America Online with the New Year. Membership was growing fast, and it was quite a culture shock when AOL joined the PC, Tandy, and Mac users in a single service. If you wanted to chat about something other than the size of your hard drive, you met with other Mac users in the private AOL Lobby.

Among my friends there was a newcomer from Montana, John Cartan.

He had a good sense of humor, could type fast, and sang Oklahoma! and Beatles tunes with me. We often ran into each other online. On our first date‹a virtual date‹he double-dared me to come visit. E-mail love letters quickly led to Voice. After I booked airfare from Southern California, he pre-empted our first visit by driving three days to see me. He had directions, though Nature sent road signs: a double rainbow, a ribbon of Monarch butterflies. At 7 pm Wednesday, I opened the front door. He was very tall & slightly sweaty, and he handed me three red roses.

Three red roses. I Love You.

Five days later we were engaged.
A year later, surrounded by the blessings of our family and friends, we married. Despite our roller-coaster life, there is a constant: Each day I awake to find I love John more than ever, and he the same. Click here to see my true love.

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