The year was 1997. I was hanging with my best friend who was curious about online chatting on AOL. I told him that I would show him how it worked. We went to the store, purchased a 6 pack of beer, and headed to my place. I logged into AOL and hit a chat room. He cracked open a beer and let the games begin. He was not a very good typer so I took over for him. I asked the room if anyone wanted to trade pictures (no nudes) and someone replied. We each liked what we saw and began to chat. My friend got bored and left so I continued to chat for hours that day. She lived in CO and I was in CA. We continued to communicate by pc and phone for approximately 3 weeks. We decided to meet in Vegas for the first time. We met in the airport and still felt the same connection so we got married that same night She flew back to CO and I to CA. She packed up her house and turned in her 2 weeks notice. I flew out to CO and we drove to CA pulling a 15 foot trailer with her belongings back to CA. We are still married today and I wouldn’t change a thing. If it was not for my friend asking about chatting on AOL I would not have met my wife. I was through with chatting on AOL and had not been on it for a couple of months.
Archive for category connection
Love at first type
Nov 19
I heart AZ
Nov 13
10 months in Phoenix. 32 years, 2 months in Colorado. Of all the places and all of the times he could have been in Phoenix, on tour with his band, out of money and friends with someone I knew it had to be smack dab in the middle of that 10 month period in AZ.
Our first attempt at marriage occurred after a long night of driving from Phoenix to Las Vegas after having known eachother 4 weeks. We filled out the marriage license applications and chickened out. We got back to Phoenix with about 5 hours to spare before his flight back to Denver left.
8 years later we live in a nice house that we own, have a gorgeous daughter and incredible family. I’ve only lived outside the state of Colorado for 10 months out of the 399 months I’ve been alive and that’s when he showed up. My husband.
Now We Are a Family
Nov 11
Everyone loves this story of our adopted daughter – and it is 100% true.
6 years ago my wife and I were struggling with infertility. We had tried everything and could not conceive. We instead opted to adopt. We signed up with an adoption agency one August. Several months later that same year – in December, we took a vacation to New Mexico. While visiting one of the Native American Pueblos in the gift shop I saw a figurine of a mother with children climbing all over her. Back home, at the advice of our Adoption Agency, we had already begun to put together a nursery – he said it helped to get us into “parent mode.” I took the figure to my wife and said “I want to get this and put it in the “baby’s room” – maybe it will bring a good vibe.”
So I took the figurine to the counter and asked the guy if he was the artist who made it. He said no, “but I represent the artist.” So I said oh, then can you tell me what this figure represents? He said its the “Storyteller” that each tribe has a woman that relates the tribes oral history to the children. I said “Oh – I thought when I saw all the kids on her – it was some kind of fertility figure – my wife and I can’t have children and we are trying to adopt – and I thought this might help find us a baby. Not wanting to lose the sale I suppose, he said – “Well it can do that too.” So there I was about to take out my wallet, when from behind a beaded curtain in back of him steps out this old Indian who looks like the Medicine Man straight out of “Central Casting”, long gray hair, weathered, wrinkled face, beads, etc – and he looks right at my wife and me – and says “I overheard what you were telling my Grandson, and I sense a goodness in you – I am going to pray to the Great Spirit to send you a baby.” Needless to say we thanked him and bought the figure and put it the nursery when we got home. That was December 2002.
Flash forward a few months to February 2003 – and we get a call from our adoption agency that they have a “very pregnant” Birth Mother in their office who has selected us to adopt her child – but we have to ask you and your wife one Question – “she is Native American – do you have any problem with that?”
A few days later, on February 14th, Valentines Day no less – the child that we had no doubt was destined to be our daughter was born – we were there in the delivery room – and we named her Lailee Natane Goodman – Natane is a Native American word for “daughter.”
TRUE STORY!!!
Long lost love
Nov 10
My very first love, hers also met in 1965. Our love was deep and real. It survived my time in the USAF. Her twin sister got married May 1969. We fought about marriage. She wanted to marry I did not. Not for fear of commitment but because I felt I could not support her the way she deserved. I dropped her at her home. She worked as a nanny and was a second year college student. She disappeared and I was told she married another. I was heart broken. I would think I saw her on the street. I searched and searched. One time I was driving a truck and thought I had found her walking down the street. It was not her and I cried like a baby knowing I would never see my soul mate again.
I married and married 3 times and drank and drugged. I never forgot her and periodically searched. In 2002 I suffered a near fatal heart attack. My wife left for a woman and left me with two teen aged girls to raise. I had sobered up in 73 so I had lead a healthy productive life. But after 3 failed marriges and nearly dying I lost my will to live. My children were now grown and after 33 years I began to drink. I would pray to die in my sleep. I suffered a stroke and was near death. I wanted one last chance to find the love of my life Phillis to close the circle and say goodbye. I posted notes on Craigslist. I didn’t even know her married name.
Out of the blue I received an e-mail from a free web site. This woman found my Phillis. It turned out we had lived for years in Florida 30 miles away. She had lost her first husband in 88 and remarried and had a very unhappy marriage. She was in the process of getting divorced. We met and found we loved each other even more than ever. It was if no time had passed. Our lives are filled with love and my health has improved greatly. It is so great everyday I wake up with surprise it is not a dream. I could not be more happy if I won 50 million in the lottery.
Four years ago, I moved to Denver from Japan to start my first year in college. Then one day during my sophomore year, a random guy from myspace started talking to me. I was completely uninterested and thought he was weird. I started talking to one of his friends, Pacey*, who gave me the 411 on this definite creeper. Naturally, I stopped talking to the original guy, but kept in contact with Pacey. He lived 60 miles away, so we never met, but we’d talk whenever we were online. Neither of us expected it, but we continued our friendship for quite sometime, and became surprisingly close.
After about a year, Pacey decided he wanted to join the Navy. I wasn’t looking forward to him leaving, but I was glad that he was following his dream. I was in Hawaii for spring break at the time, and missed his last call. Ten minutes after I got his voicemail, he called me back to say he couldn’t go because of a recent hand injury. Two months later, Pacey announced he was moving to FL to live with his best friend. Again, I was crushed that my friend was leaving, but was glad he was doing his thing. It was when he left for FL that I realized that Pacey meant more to me than a good friend. Unfortunately, I was still stuck in CO and he was on the other side of the country. I think we both realized we liked each other then, but didn’t see anything realistic coming out of it, so we simply continued being friends. After about a year of separation, we still talked regularly, and I decided I wanted to study abroad in Australia for a semester. Pacey moved back to CO while I was still in Australia. We hadn’t seen each other in almost a year and a half, but when we did, we were the closest we’d ever been. Months and months of agonizing sexual tension went on; neither of us was willing to admit our feelings for each other. Then, Pacey did it again; he decided he wanted to move to South Dakota. He was out there for about 3 months when he finally called me, completely drunk, confessing all of his feelings for the past 3 years. A few days later, he called me to tell me he was going to buy a non-refundable ticket to visit him. I protested, but he went and bought it anyway. An hour after he bought me the tickets, he was laid off.
Pacey and I have officially been together for 9 months. It hasn’t been long, but the number of times we’ve tested our bond since knowing each other has proven to us that we’re meant to be. We still live 60 miles away, with full-time schedules of school and work, but somehow, we manage to stick together. Our story is a true example of, “if its meant to be, it’ll work out.”
3am baby
Nov 5
I was tired but couldn’t sleep. I crawl out of bed to smoke a cigarette. I realize that I don’t have any cigarettes left. I start calmly searching my empty packs. I light a couple long butts and breathe in the smoke. They don’t quench the nicotine need I have. I stare out one of the three windows that make up my largest wall daring myself to leave. I slip into my jeans and my old cowboy boots, no socks. Run a hand through my hair and head down the stairs. On my way out of the building I hold the door open for two very young, drunk scene kids who moved into the room above me. Without a thank you they push past me and stumble up the stairs falling over each other and laughing. I feel like an old man at 27. I stare down Washington st and start towards Colfax. It’s a walk I’ve made countless times. It takes me to the Denver public library where I spend my days reading and people watching. There is an all night bodega near Toms Diner where I can buy cigarettes; I just hope I have enough. I scrounged all the change I had left on my window ledge. I had been saving it for just such an emergency. Money is hard to find after rent is due. My useless Literature degree doesn’t help pay the bills. I wait for the light to change at the corner of Colfax and pearl reading the bill board. A prostitute walks behind me wearing a red bikini and fake mink coat. She’s black woman with a bad weave and red acrylic nails and missing a couple teeth. We are the only two people on the street. It’s unusual for Colfax to be this deserted, even for 3:30am on a Tuesday. She says to me in a very horse voice, ‘Hey baby, looking for something fun tonight? I can make you feel great.’
‘No, thanks’ I say back still waiting for the light to change.
She asks again ‘Baby, I can make you feel so good. Better than you’ve ever felt’
I smile and reply ‘no thanks.’ She smiles back and starts to fidget with her weave and stares down at her shoes. We walk slowly across the street; she keeps my lazy pace with me. Across the street she says again ‘Baby, tonight, I’m free. I will make you feel better than anyone else ever has; you look like you need it.’
I look at her for probably a beat too long and I say ‘No, but thanks.’ We walk our separate ways on Colfax, both taking a minute to look over our shoulders and glance at each other. We were the royalty of Colfax, owners of the endless neon street. We walk away, both smiling, knowing we gave each other exactly what we needed. She knew I needed to feel wanted and I knew she needed someone to tell her No.
