In 2006, I met Phil during a chance meeting online - As soon as we spoke to each other via text, we found out how much we truly had in common with one another. We compared all of our likes and dislikes about silly things and finally, to throw him off I said “Okay, we need to stop matching on everything – What month are you born in” He responded “November” and I laughed and responded “Me too!” and in an attempt to not match with him, I asked “What day are you born on?” and he responded “The thirteenth!”. I could not believe it and it took some proving on his side but we actually both share November 13th as our birthday! Side Note: He can never forget my birthday as many husbands do!
That was the start of something very magical and we both knew it! Unfortunately, we did not match on the one very important thing – our location!! I was in New York and he was in Canada, which may seem close but we later found out he may as well had been across the world. We dated online, spoke every day on the phone for hours and hours – even falling asleep on the phone and waking up the next morning still on the phone. He would go about his day and work and I would head off to school, only to meet on the phone or webcam later that evening and it would continue on like this for what felt like forever.
We decided we needed to meet but wanted to do it responsibly, so we saved up the money for his first flight into New York and a year and a half after our online meeting, on August 17th 2007 *wait for it* I will spare you the details but his flight was canceled because of a super rare rainstorm came in! I cried so much that night as I had waited what felt like forever to have him in my arms...but it cleared to the most beautiful sky I had ever seen and on August 18th, 2007 that moment we have dreamed of, happened. I watched him walk off the airplane, we instantly embraced each other and held hands.
Truthfully, in that moment it cemented all of the feelings we had been feeling for the year while we waited. He stayed for about 3 weeks in our house and we spent every day as we would have if we lived near each other, doing normal things a couple would do, with some special local dates in between. You could not even imagine how much we both longed to do the normal things couples did like…grocery shopping, taking a walk and sitting by the ocean! I know that sounds silly but we are both simple people who appreciate the little things that happen around us.
Unfortunately, the time had a way of going too fast when he was visiting and when it came time to take him back to the airport, life felt like it was stopping for the both of us. We would meet back on webcam when he would get home and both of our eyes would be red from crying and this would happen over and over again over a year as he traveled back and forth.
September 2008, we sought out an immigration lawyer and started the process...I will stop here because as much as we went through, the bottom line is we are here - as husband and wife, happily married six years!
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