Family: How I met my wife.

Note: This is old content that was on my old website, long since abandoned. However, now that I've started a blog, it seemed like I should rescue some of this content before it became forever lost. I've edited it slightly, and added a recent picture.

How We Met

Well, while it might be fun to say that we met on the internet, that's not exactly how it happened. In truth, we were frequent visitors to an IRC channel named "truthdare". On truthdare, the idea was that people played a never-ending game of Truth or Dare. It's good, not-so-clean, fun.

Us Then

Anyway, one day while I was on channel, a truthdare acquaintance of mine named Kathy (IRC nickname "Aure") mentioned that she was coming to Madison. Always eager to meet people in real life that I've met online, I suggested that we get together, seeing as she was going to be in the neighborhood.

Well, she came up to town, and we were going to rendevous at Chi-Chi's, a mexican restaurant, (now closed, alas) and she called to let me know that she would be bringing along another friend who lived in Madison, named Liana. I met them at the restaurant, we had a lovely dinner, chatted about IRC, and it turned out that Liana was a regular on truthdare (IRC nickname "TKDBabe"), but we had never happened to cross paths because of different schedules.

We said goodnight, and they gave me a ride home in the back of Kathy's dad's van, which was full of condoms and sex toys, believe it or not. So ended my first meeting with my future wife.

Disappointed that more romantic sparks didn't fly? Well, they might have, except for the fact that I was in a long-distance relationship with someone else at the time, so I dutifully restrained any impulses I might have had in that direction.

The Second Meeting

My Old Logo

Well, one night not long after that, I was online (nickname "Mister_X"), and saw that Liana was there. I don't remember why I was looking to do something fun, but I must have been, so I asked her if she'd like to get together for dinner, and she accepted.

I was still involved with this other woman, and Liana knew it, so while we had a good time, it's possible there was a bit of unrelieved tension in the air. We went to the Olive Garden restaurant, had a nice dinner, went back to my place and spent some time online doing this and that, mostly websurfing and IRC. Eventually we got tired, and she went home.

There are two notable things about this second meeting. One, at some point in the evening our legs touched each other while we were using the computer. Both of us remember that, so it must have been important. Two, my apartment was absolutely filthy. I hadn't cleaned it in months, it looked like I'd just thrown everything I owned loose on the floor, and the laundry situation doesn't even bear thinking about. Why it didn't scare her off right then, I'll never know.

The First Date?

Liana Now

I don't think we knew this was going to be a date until after it already was. But right from the outset, one important thing had changed. My long distance relationship had come to a abrupt, and apparently irrevocable, termination. Liana called me up to ask me if I'd be willing to come over to her house and help her move her window-mounted air conditioner to the basement for the winter, as it was letting in a draft. I agreed in exchange for dinner.

The appointed hour came, and I went over to her place, and with no small effort, moved the accursedly heavy thing. Dutifully impressed with my prowess, Liana took me to Tumbleweed steakhouse for the promised reward. We had a good time, and this time, commisserated about failed relationships, went back to her place, where we watched movies, played with her computer, and then fooled around. *grin* Within a few weeks, we were together all the time, and I formally moved in with her a few months later. The rest is history!