My GLBT family: How did you meet your significant other?

[WillParkinson]

60. I met him at the candy store, he turned around and smiled at me, you get the picture?

Actually I had gotten my first computer, a Commodore 64! Had just moved into my own place and gotten online (which in those days meant BBS'ing, not websites). Had made a few online friends, but had not found anything local. Then one day I picked up a copy of InStep, a local gay paper, and found an ad for a gay bulletin board system called Crossroads. So I dialed in.

I had been rooting around for a few minutes when I got a chat request. I, of course, accepted. Oh what a bad idea. The person on the other end, "Electronic Kid", typed so...freaking...slow. It was so bad I wanted to just finish typing his sentences for him. I politely excused myself and logged out.

A few days later I found another system "DYM492", which stood for Dial-Your-Match. I got in, went through the registration process and within seconds got the message "The Sysop wants to chat with you, do you want to chat with Sysop?" I said sure, why not.

The typing was...so...freaking....slow. Oh, look, the sysop is Electronic Kid. Greeeeeat. He was interesting, but I just couldn't stand typing with him so I gave him my phone number. He called and we talked for hours. In fact, we talked daily for hours. One day I asked him if he wanted to go to dinner. He accepted. There was a Pizza Hut near the house so I invited him there. He said he'd pick me up.

The doorbell rang and I looked outside the window. He was not a classic beauty and I was fine with that. The person I had spent all the time with on the phone is the one who made me smile, not a conception of what he looked like. We went to dinner, had a good time. When we went back to his car and got in, he put it into gear and drove over the concrete parking lot stops. It was a good thing his car was so big. It was the funniest thing. I knew right then that I was smitten with him.

We had a private ceremony on April 1st. This day was chosen because so many people said that within 6 months we'd be looking for other people. We took April 1st because every year that passed would just make them bigger fools.

2 years ago on April 1st, we legally wed in Vermont.

He still can't type, but Paul continues to rock my world. I cannot imagine my life without him and I'm very grateful that I accepted the chat with Sysop.