Greg was a familiar face on LDS Singles. I frequently saw his name on the list of people in the chat room. I couldn't access that room, myself, due to my lame computer (The darn thing could access any area of the site but that chat room. Mail messages, fine. Instant messenger, fine. Photos, fine. NO CHAT ROOM FOR YOU! -frump-), but I could see the list of 'currently chatting' members. His profile showed that he was a number of years younger than me and that he was in Canada. Because of that information, I never made any contact with him. After all, he was too far away to point me in the direction of a Sunday service and it seemed as if the age gap was too large for us to have any dating chemistry. I had settings on my profile that limited those who could view it. Greg shouldn't have been able to access anything, so I was caught off guard when he sent me a 'flirt' one day. I tentatively responded with a brief e-mail, he replied a short while later. This guy was kind of cute! And fun. So we messaged a bit more. Still cute. And hilariously funny!! From that moment it was on! Flirt after flirt. Instant Message after message. We chatted so often that I began to hear phantom 'dings' from the messenger when I was at work, shopping, in the shower.
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| My dings will haunt your dreams! |
He loved kids, animals, crafty things, music... His major at school was even in Veterinary Medicine, which was a career I was very fond of. He was so charming and adorable that I found myself rushing home from work each day to catch him online before he left for his shift at a Canadian 7-11 Store. My evening wasn't as content if I missed out on chatting with him. That first "flirt" was sent on August 11, 2004. By September we were ready to brave the possibilities of phone conversation. Though chats on the computer were fun, actual dialogue was a whole new level. The initial "OMG! We're speaking to each other in person!" shyness didn't last long. In fact, I'm not sure if it was ever even there. We blew through a few phone cards pretty quickly and realized a better option was needed. Timing couldn't have been more ideal, since that was the month that AT&T released their "$9.99- free long distance to Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico" plan. Provided the calls didn't push me over my allotted minutes, we could now talk as often as we wanted. And boy, did we! AT&T probably regretted creating that plan from the moment I signed up. Every spare waking moment our phones were connected. It reached the point where on week days we talked from the moment we got home from work/school until bedtime. Saturday/Sundays we would sit near an outlet, our phones plugged in to keep a charge, only moving when we had to leave our houses. When real life demanded attention, the charge on our phone was always strong enough that we could use a hands-free mic. Daily errands couldn't rain on our parade. Greg even called me for the ten minutes or so at work when he was stocking the large refrigerator and could chat without getting caught. Ninja! It was as if we were actually together, even though we were 750 miles apart.
It hadn't taken long for Greg and I to realize we were going to need to meet in person.
"If only you were here!"
"Why do you have to be so far away!?"
"Remind me how many miles it is, again?"
"Why aren't you here yet?"
Yeah, we were gross.
He was enrolled in the University of Lethbridge and wouldn't be done with classes until Christmas. Three months away! The wait was torturous, but we somehow managed it. Day after day we ticked off the time until we'd finally get to meet. Small milestones like my birthday, Halloween & Thanksgiving started to tick by. My monthly phone bills became a great source of entertainment, at least to us. I know the phone company was plotting my doom by that point. Oh, the hours we talked! ---And finally the Christmas holiday was upon us. Greg and I arranged our work schedules so that we'd have a full six days to spend together at the end of the year. We both sensed it was going to be fantastically fun.
I plotted out numerous activities that we could do while he was in town and confirmed with my parents that he would be able to stay in their guest room for the week. Almost positive that the reason they were fine with it was because I told them I would soon be "Canadian".
I was in love.
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| Of course they'd NEVER say it! |
If it hadn't been for my friend, Michael, I'd never have had any in-person/not-at-work socialization that winter. Because of course our 'movie nights' continued. The timing was great since he met his future wife, Emiliya, shortly after I met Greg. She lived overseas so he and I were in the same boat. Long distance romance. Oye... Not ideal, but at least our stories of annoyed dating failure turned into exciting updates instead. We'd go on adventures in downtown Salt Lake City, camera in hand. Always plotting things we could do, places we could go, items we could send! (Hey, Michael, want some more 'Dave's Insanity Sauce?!) Greg and Emiliya were our focus!
Good times.
It hadn't taken long for Greg and I to realize we were going to need to meet in person.
"If only you were here!"
"Why do you have to be so far away!?"
"Remind me how many miles it is, again?"
"Why aren't you here yet?"
Yeah, we were gross.
He was enrolled in the University of Lethbridge and wouldn't be done with classes until Christmas. Three months away! The wait was torturous, but we somehow managed it. Day after day we ticked off the time until we'd finally get to meet. Small milestones like my birthday, Halloween & Thanksgiving started to tick by. My monthly phone bills became a great source of entertainment, at least to us. I know the phone company was plotting my doom by that point. Oh, the hours we talked! ---And finally the Christmas holiday was upon us. Greg and I arranged our work schedules so that we'd have a full six days to spend together at the end of the year. We both sensed it was going to be fantastically fun.
I plotted out numerous activities that we could do while he was in town and confirmed with my parents that he would be able to stay in their guest room for the week. Almost positive that the reason they were fine with it was because I told them I would soon be "Canadian".
I was in love.