Part 1: Online to On the Plane

Martin and I met online.  I had no clue what to expect from the online thing, but I guess I wanted to give it a shot.  Here’s the longer version of the story (from my perspective):

We started talking in August 2010, and our emails quickly became longer and longer.  I enjoyed getting to know Martin, joking with him, and corresponding with him, and I quickly began to await his next email... hoping that it wouldn’t take more than 2-3 days.  In October, we video-chatted for the first time (Martin had to buy a webcam in order for this to happen).  I enjoyed talking to Martin more and more, and as we went on, so many things in our lives (priorities, dreams, lifestyle, goals, faith etc.) seemed to line up.  I found him funny, and he didn’t seem to mind my sense of humour.  I never felt like I needed to hide anything from him, and I didn’t want to hide anything from him.  I think this was partly because of the distance—at that point, I figured “I might as well give him as clear-of-a picture of me as possible, good and bad, since I don’t have anything to lose.”  Along with that, our conversations were very direct.  We talked about faith, family, marriage, money, and international interest before we would have even considered ourselves “a couple.”  This meant that we got our “business” taken care of quickly and efficiently, and the rest of our conversation was easy, insightful and fun! 

In February, Martin made a joke about the “Wonder Weekend” that his church was putting on—and how I should come and see it!  What a kind offer, Martin!  I kindly refused the offer, but said that he could come here to visit sometime if he wanted.  He promptly booked a plane ticket to come visit me, because... well, why not?  Ha!  We decided that the purpose of this trip was to see if we enjoyed spending time together as much as we enjoyed emailing and video-chatting.  In my mind, this trip had the potential of being a huge failure, and I later discovered that Martin had a back-up plan of staying with a relative, if it went really badly.  At the same time, I knew that if it went well, it could end up getting serious really quickly.