I decided to give the modem a try, and voila, I was online! Apple maintained a nice little chat server called eWorld which was based in Cupertino, California. My first month on eWorld, I racked up a phone bill of $1100 and eWorld fees of $475. I had no idea that every single minute of chat cost me long distance fees. I did know that eWorld charged, but I was so addicted, it didn't matter. The second month on eWorld cost me $900 in phone bills and $325 in eWorld fees. I slacked off some to fend off irritation from my then-spouse.
So, what's a woman to do when she has been introduced to The World after living in the boondocks of PA for most of her life? I met people from all over the Earth: India, England, Ireland, and that magic place, Australia. The Aussies fascinated me. They were hilarious beyond belief: clever, funny, whacked out, bizarre -- a total hoot!
Ever a woman who believes that a way can be found, I discovered that people worked for the chat server and got FREE time on eWorld and also an 800 number to call in to hook on. These people were called "CCC's" for "Community Conference Crew." I set out on a quest to become a worker on the chat server and was "hired" to host for a couple of forums, notably the Education Forum and Transormations, a 12-Step Meetings Forum. Bingo! Free access! Yehawww!!
Enter one crazy Australian man who was "chatting" in a room called "Town Square." Actually, he was swinging from the chandelier in the middle of the room and tossing custard pies down onto the heads of the other chatters. Mind you, this was all done in chat. Crazy!! The same man invented a machine which he claimed was a combination grandfather clock and chicken de-sexer. He peddled this invention in various chat rooms.
Interestingly, this person was also spending beaucoup bucks on long distance and eWorld fees. He sought a position on eWorld as well and was hired by Transformations to host 12-Step meetings. We trained together and often hosted together, he from Sydney and I from western PA.
eWorld eventually morphed into a chat server called "Talk City." I was a CCC and so, eventually, was the Australian. We chatted for hours at a time, both on the 'net and on the phone whenever we could. By this time, I was newly single and he was single for all intents and purposes. In addition, I set upon a quest to become a CSA for Talk City. A CSA (Community Service Advisor) was really a "chat cop." The server advertised itself to be "clean and well lighted," so folks were hired to supervise chat, respond to complaints, and to remove people who refused to follow the rules. This was in 1996, by which time I had decided I needed to take a trip to Australia.
I had wanted to visit Australia for my entire lifetime. The animals fascinated me, and I had a pen pal from the Sydney area for over twenty years. I figured that it was now or never, so I bought a round trip ticket to go across the Pacific in July of 1997.
I must inject here that I hate to fly. I am amazed by flight and by airplanes, but the whole thing scares the living hell out of me. It always has, and I imagine it always will. The flight from here to Sydney involves 5 hours to California and then 14 and a half hours to Sydney, nonstop. It was grueling, to say the least. As we got close to the Australian continent, it became daylight. The pilot told us we were early into Sydney and would not be able to land until after 6 AM Sydney time. He took us on a little tour up the coast and pointed out some sights.
We finally landed, and it took an hour to get through customs. They employed sniffer dogs to make sure nobody brought in agricultural products. They wanted to know where I planned to stay and who I knew in Australia. Finally, I was through customs and put my luggage on a cart. I pushed my cart out into the lobby of the airport.
He was standing there, wearing jeans and a leather bomber jacket. I ran into his arms, and it has been darned near perfect ever since. I stayed in Australia for six weeks and then came home because I had to start to teach. I brought the Sydney flu home with me on the plane and missed the entire first week of school due to illness.
At Christmas time, he flew over for two months. He was working on a degree at Macquarie University and went back to Australia to finish the degree. It was the longest six months of my life. In August of 1999, he returned to the US, and we were married on September 11, 1999.
There is a lot more to this story, notably that my husband is now an Episcopal.priest. When he came here to the US, although raised in the Anglican tradition, he had not been to church in over twenty years. One Sunday he decided to accompany me to the Episcopal Church, and the rest is history. After five years of work and study, he was ordained to the diaconate and then to the priesthood. God certainly works in mysterious and convoluted ways!
There is a great deal more to this story, of course, but for the sake of brevity, I will leave it until a later time. May you be so fortunage as to find that one person in the world who is your soul mate. It is the greatest gift of my lifetime.
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Labels: Love And Sex
