In early 2006, I was going through a tough time, having been let go from a job and dealing with some other personal issues. To clear my head, I ended up moving from California to Washington, hoping to start over with a few new opportunities. A few weeks before the move, I was spending time on MySpace, getting to know people in the area of Washington I was moving to and trying to look for jobs on Craigslist, so that I could situate myself upon arriving in my new home.

The job search wasn't working out so well and the people weren't as friendly as I'd hoped, but I did receive a "friend request" from a soldier in Iraq. We carried on a few occasional conversations via "comments" on each other's MySpace pages, about politics, movies, and literature - nothing too serious. After moving back to California, giving up on my failed attempt at starting over in Washington, I left a comment on the soldier's MySpace page, asking him to cheer me up, because he's the only one who could (I would later find out that he assumed I'd posted this comment on the pages of other friends as well, not just his - he was pleasantly surprised to learn it was just him that received the request). This led to a conversation via instant message, which wasn't a medium we'd communicated on until then. One IM conversation turned into several, most spanning hours at a time, and I quickly found myself adjusting my schedule to match his, so that I could be online between his patrols. He found himself spending all of his free time online, chatting with me. These hours-long IM conversations turned into hours-long phone calls.

After spending my teens and early 20s running away from committed relationship after committed relationship, I was finally clicking with someone and not wanting to run away. I had not met this man in person, nor did I know if he was a good kisser, what he smelled like, or any of the nuances you pick up while being around someone... I only knew that I was falling in love with him, though I did not say so. One night, we were on the phone and his phone card was running out. We said our goodbyes and hung up. I got up to get something to drink before heading to bed and did not hear my cell phone ring, back in the bedroom where I had left it. He had called me back and left a voicemail. He thanked me for the conversation and said that he'd had a great time... and that he loved me. He went on to say that he had wanted to tell me that while we were still on the phone, but time ran out, so he purchased more time on the phone card so that he could call me and tell me. I still have that voicemail saved and listen to it regularly.

I met his mom and sister before I met him - they lived in San Diego and I lived in the Los Angeles area, so we met up at Disneyland and I'd hung out with his sister several times both in LA and in San Diego (we're close in age). I spent hours on the phone with his mom, keeping her apprised of his situation while in Iraq. When his deployment was extended, she was the first person I called and we both vented our frustrations with the situation. We kept each other sane. Not only was I finding a connection with this soldier, but also with his family. For the first time  outside of my own family, I felt truly loved and accepted.

Our first kiss was nearly seven months after we'd entered into a relationship. We were at an airport and he was returning home after the deployment had ended. His grandparents and mom were there, and it was nearly midnight. My heart was racing and I was nervous, but when we kissed, everything around us disappeared. It felt completely natural and like we'd kissed each other thousands of times before. That kiss is one of the two best kisses I've ever had in my life. The best one was a year and a half later, at our wedding.

He is currently deployed again and I am at home, again waiting for his return. Many people have expressed their sympathy for our having to be separated, but it's so much easier this time - I know that he's an excellent kisser, his pillow on our bed still smells like him (even though I cuddle with it every night), and I won't be at all nervous when I see him at the airport. And this time, I really have kissed him thousands of times, but everyone will still disappear and I will be grateful that I am lucky enough to have married my best friend, whom I would not have met, had he not requested to add me on MySpace.

(In case you were wondering, he claims that he requested to add me as a friend on MySpace merely because he thought I had "a nice rack" and appreciated my style in glasses. And the way I knew I was falling in love with him was his saying that I reminded him, "of a walking, talking version of Jonathan Swift's 'A Modest Proposal'".... needless to say, we do share a rather offbeat sense of humor and it's that sense of humor that has made our relationship work. )