I Fell in Love on the Internet
By Elizabeth, age 16, Ontario
They always tell you to be careful with people on the internet. You hear all kinds of stories about pedophiles and kidnapings of girls by creepy guys they'd met on the internet. Believe me, I know all about this, but I've gotten lucky. I've met the love of my life ... believe it or not ... on the internet.
It all started in the summer of 2006. I became really, really bored, and I decided to check out chat rooms for the first time. That experience left me scarred for life, amongst other things. People say anything on those things ... definitely not my cup of tea. But in one teen chat room there was a pop-up for some website - some teenage dating site. I was infatuated with MySpace at the time, and I thought this couldn't be all that different, so I made "my lame little profile". I thought the site was "okay". I checked it maybe once a week, but when I did my email box was overflowing with 14 year old video game nerds. Soon I'd had enough. I wanted to delete "my lame little profile".
As I attempted to figure this out, the boys continued to flow. I added one kid a matter of days before I deleted my profile. He wasn't a video game nerd. We seemed to have quite a bit in common. He had photos, and he asked for my MSN address. I thought I could give it to him, and if he turned out to not be who he said he was, I could just block and delete him.
So the boy added me. He was 16, and lived about forty-five minutes away from me. I had been to the place he lived in my youth, so we had that connection. I was still a little bit unsure of him because we seemed to have almost too much in common, so I kept my guard up.
After about a week of talking to him, I developed a crush. I didn't want to tell him. Remember, I'm still a creepy girl from the internet! So after about a month of talking to this boy every day, he wanted to know if he could call me, so I made sure no one else would answer the phone, and I went on a whim and said sure. We talked for 6 hours straight ... about everything. We had similar views on the world. We definitely had crushes.
So about a month later he told me that his father was willing to drive him here to meet me. I was indeed a little worried by the idea, but I definitely thought about it. I asked my friends' opinions, since I'm a pretty safe kid. So I agreed to meet him in a very public place at a set time.
Finally the day came when I was supposed to meet him. I woke up early on a Saturday to blow dry my hair. I wore eyeliner. I showed up to meet him. He told me he was always late, so I showed up half an hour later than planned, but he was nowhere to be found. I waited three hours for him. Some random guy offered me a cigarette. I declined.
Finally, about three and half hours later, I gave up and began to walk home. I was absolutely crushed. The worst thoughts began running through my head. Was he not even real, some prank played on me? Was he some creep who got scared off, or did he just not really like me? I was on the verge of tears. Luckily I found some middle school friends who comforted me. I ended up going home five hours after I was supposed to meet him, too upset to even tell my parents I was stood up by some creep from the internet.
But when I returned home he sent me an email. He said he was running late and I should go back. The problem now was that my parents had gone out for the evening, so I had no way to get there. Then he called me from the place we were supposed to meet, and I explained to him the situation.
Now what I did next I wouldn't recommend anyone doing. I gave him my home address. He eventually found the place - five hours after we were supposed to meet. I ended up sitting him down on my living room sofa, and we talked for hours about everything from his hair to the one episode of The OC we'd both seen. Then my parents came home. (I must note that they were unaware of his existence, and would not be at all pleased either.)
My mother came in, introduced herself to him, and asked the question I dreaded. "How do you know my daughter?" He told her the truth: "We met on the internet," responding with a nervous laugh. I died. My mother laughed and walked away. He eventually had to go home, and we ended with a handshake. That night he told me I was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
About a month later I invited him back. This time he was only 45 minutes late. We spent six hours talking. He kissed me. I have never been kissed like that in my life. I have never felt that way about another human being in my life. He was no longer an email address - he was the real deal. About two weeks later I told him I loved him. That was the first time in my life I ever said it, and I meant it with every ounce of my being. The funny thing about the relationship was that neither one of us could believe the other actually liked us.
Then all of a sudden things began to get a little rough. Understand, we were never actually dating. We didn't see each other enough for it be considered "dating", and we thought "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" were too weak, as words go. Anyway, one night a little over a month after I'd last seen him, I met a new guy. We had nothing in common. I just met him that night, but with underage drinking come terrible decisions. Let's just say this guy misinterpreted echos of niceness for something else. I felt absolutely terrible, and the entire time the boy I'd met on the internet was all I could think about.
So the next day I told him I associated with another guy. He was crushed. I was crushed too. I'd broken my own heart as well as his. But he forgave me. He knew I had no feelings for the other guy and would probably never speak to him again. I hadn't been this depressed in my life. He said he needed me to be happy. So even though it did take time, things became normal again. About two months after the incident we saw each other again.
He and his friend stayed for the weekend. He met my best friend, all of my siblings, and all of my siblings' friends. It was quite the weekend - one of the best in my life. We've just kept loving each other more and more. It wasn't even an internet relationship anymore. We were crazy about each other. We were euphoric.
Still I had never gone to visit him. Finally a friend who lived nearby invited me up for a weekend, so I took a side trip to finally visit his place. I met his parents and all his friends, even his cousins. It was brilliant.
It's been about a month since I've seen him last. We've only actually hung out in person five times, but it feels like I've known him for years. We've learned to go a week or so without talking to each other because our computers tend to crash, but we know that we're always being thought about.
I know it sounds a little creepy falling in love with someone through the internet, but I feel it has worked out brilliantly. I got to know about his personality and beliefs first. I know for a fact that if I'd met him first in real life, I'd have been too scared to talk to him. Thanks to "ye olde internet" I have fallen madly in love.
Note: I realize that while I was very careful in some ways, at other points I wasn't as safety conscious as I probably should have been. I'm happy with the way things have turned out, but I understand the need to take precautions, as the internet is home to some really dangerous people, as well as some really nice ones.
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