By DioneCampbell (Fortin)
Date: 31 December 1997

Love Via V-Chat

It was a beautiful, warm day in July and I was sitting in front of the pc. 
 I was trying out all sorts of new chat rooms that a friend of mine had 
suggested.  Now, at this time I was a bit on the depressed side.  I was alone
 in my heart and my son was in another state for the next month or so.  I was 
finishing up college and just waiting for graduation to happen so I could move 
to Kansas.  
     I often chatted in Arcadium because it was the first chat room I ever went
 into and I had friends there.  I started surfing chats when Arc went down the 
drain.  My friend sent me V-Chat and I installed it on my pc and thought I 
would wander in and take a look.  I was there for about 2 minutes when this guy 
started to talk to me.  My immediate reaction was that he was like all the 
others that just go in to flirt and try to have cyber-sex with you.  His name 
was Sleeman (After a Canadian beer, as I found out later), mine was Hunnybunny.  
We talked for a couple of minutes in V-Chat and then went to mIRC.  From there
we talked for hours.  By the time that little session was over I knew that he 
wasn't there to flirt or to hit on me.  He just wanted someone to talk to.
       As the next couple of days went by, I got e-mails, ICQ messages, and 
chatted with him for hours.  This continued for quite a while.  Then, one day, 
I realized that I hadn't been outside in days.  I couldn't leave him there in 
IRC alone.  I had to chat with him.  I was very enthralled in the entire 
experience.  Then, he asked if he could call me on the phone.  I was skeptical 
at first and then realized, he is in Canada, what can it hurt?  So, I gave him
 my phone number and he called me later that night.  We talked for what seemed 
to be minutes which was actually three hours.  His voice was angelic with his 
French accent.  He was very nervous about speaking English but he did very well.  
From that day forward we talked everyday on the telephone and chatted as well.
  I didn't have to work so we spent a long time online with one another.
     Time passed and it was time for me to graduate and move to Kansas.  That 
is what I did.  As soon as I arrived in Kansas I immediately set up the pc and 
left everything else in the truck and car.  I had to get online to talk to him,
 I couldn't stand it anymore.  He was my release from stress, my one thing that
 kept me sane in a time that was otherwise extremely crazy for me.  He was my 
link to sanity.  I remained online with him for hours that night until he had 
to go to work.  That day I did nothing but think of him and how much I wanted 
to see him in person.  
     Two weeks had passed since I had moved to Kansas.  I was looking for a job
 but still had not found one.  I was bored to death of the tiny town I was in 
and wanted out for a while.  I talked of going to Canada to see him in person.
  I dreamed about how it would be to see his face and to actually be able to 
touch him and kiss him.  Then it happened, he asked for my bank account number 
to send me the money to come and meet him in person.  I was scared.  I was 
excited.  I was nervous.  But boy did I want to go.  So, I gave him the account 
number....very nervously I might add.....and he wired the money the next day.  
I left the little town in Kansas and headed to Canada.  I drove for what seemed
forever (30 hours!!).  
     Finally, I arrived at the border.  Nervous was not the word at this point..
...if anyone knows of one that could describe the feeling let me know.  The 
questions they asked were simple enough.  Who are you?  Where do you live?  
How long are you going to be in Canada?  What is your reason for coming to 
Canada?  Okay, I am past the border now, only an hour to go....I look at the 
clock in my car....I am 12 hours early!!!  He just started work.  I was supposed
 to be there at 7 in the morning, not 7 in the evening.  Well, I thought to 
myself, I hope they are not too busy tonight.
     Farnham, Quebec, Canada I am there, I find the factory where he works.  I 
pull up in front and my stomach is turning somersaults.  Would he look like the
 picture?  Would he be happy to see me?  Will it be totally awkward?  These are
 a few of the questions running through my mind as I sat and stared at the 
building.  Then, someone came out of the building.  I got out of the car and 
asked for Christian Fortin.  The whole time praying that this guy did not say 
"that is me"  I would have turned around and gone home.  The guy was quite the 
site to see.....and not a good one mind you.  He said "Christian".  It was all 
he could say to me.  He spoke French I spoke English....I was comfortable...NOT.
  He takes me into the factory and finds him.  There he was.  The man I came 
here to see.  He was in shorts, a t-shirt, and had his hair back in a pony tail.
  He was gorgeous!!  Then he spoke to me, I melted.  It was definitely him.  He
 hugged me and I didn't want to let go but I knew he was very nervous, it was 
obvious at that point.
     I spent the night talking to him while he worked.  In the morning when his
 shift was over we would go to Magog and spend a week together.  We were 
talking but not asking questions.  This made me wonder, is there anything about
 him that I don't know?  The answer to that was "NO".  I had nothing to ask him
 about himself because I already knew.  We had spent so long online with one 
another that I even knew most of his habits.  He had no questions for me either.
  It was almost like I went to see a friend that I just hadn't seen in a long 
time but talked to on the phone a lot.  It was wonderful.  We went outside so 
he could see my car and get away from the other guys for a bit.  There is where
 he kissed me for the first time.  At first it was kind of awkward because I 
could tell he was nervous.  We had talked about this moment in length and it 
wasn't exactly how we had pictured it but .....when he kissed me I got weak at 
the knees and just fell into his arms and wanted to stay there for the rest of 
my life.  At that moment, he had me.  I was his to do with as he pleased.
     In the morning we left for Magog and checked into the hotel at the foot of
 Mount Orford.  We spent the most wonderful week together in Magog.  It is a 
week that I will never forget.  The end of the week was kind of not so pretty.
  I left a day early, I was scared.  I had spent the entire week falling in 
love with this guy.  I didn't know how to act anymore, I didn't know what to 
do.  I ran.  That is exactly what I did.  When I arrived back in Kansas he had 
called my mom a couple of times and wrotten me several e-mails.  I hurt him 
very badly the day I left.  When I am scared I am not a very heartwarming 
person at all.  I cried the entire way back to the border.  I don't think I 
actually stopped crying until I was past Cleveland.  I drove straight through 
all the way home.  I was very touched by the fact that he had cared enough for
 me to call my Mom and to write to me while I was on the way home.  
     I tried and tried to deny my feelings for him until one day when I talked 
to him on the phone.  He asked me if I would move to Canada if he wanted me to.
  Inside I was screaming YES YES YES but outside I said "Idon't know, why?"  He
 told me that he loved me and couldn't stand to be without me now that we had 
met and he knew for sure that he loved me.  Isn't it usually the girl that 
caves in and says that stuff?  Anyway, I knew at that point that I was his 
forever.  Over the next coupel of months I went back to Canada and he came to 
Kansas twice.  Finally we both knew that we couldn't live without each other 
any longer.  On my time off for Thanksgiving I drove to Canada one more time.  
This time I brought him home with me.  Now we are together and will be together
 forever.  
     Today, the day that I am writing this, December 31 1997, is the day we 
will start the rest of our lives together as one.  There is a lot in between 
all that I have written that happened but we will eventually write a book 
together about our adventures in our relationship.  Christian, I want you to 
know that when I marry you this morning I am doing it out of the pure and total
love that I feel in my heart.  You are everything that I have ever dreamed of 
in a man and more.  You have my heart in the palm of your hand and my soul in 
your pocket.  They are yours from now until eternity.  I love you honey, nothing 
and noone will ever change that.  You are my dream, my life, my love, my knight.  
From the day you first kissed me I was yours although you didn't know it and I 
didn't want to admit it.  I am at work right now but I will be home in 5 hours 
and we will be married in 6.  I love you honey.  You are the light in my life.  
I know, I know, enough with the cliche`s.  As our friend Della sent us tonight.
LOVE IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE.  You and the boys are my life, and I promise to 
love and cherish you all for as long as we both shall live........Je t`aime mon
amour.

As always, and with all my love.  Your loving wife - Dione