In a matter of hours, I had a response from Greg in my message box. It was nice - I could tell that he had read my profile, and I liked his writing style - but... that's what I thought about other message exchanges. As emails led to phone calls over the next few weeks, it was apparent that we wanted to meet each other. That's when I told Greg that, guess what, I already have a plane ticket to Texas, would he want to come see me while I'm visiting my parents?

Of course, a story can't be 100% perfect, right? Well, the day Greg was supposed to meet me for lunch in San Antonio, he called me to say his car had broken down and needed repair before he'd be able to drive to see me. I was faced with the decision of either waiting until the unknown hour that he'd be able to drive to meet at San Antonio's river walk as we had planned, or driving to see him at his home. Finally I decided to trust that he really did want to meet and this car issue was simply an obstacle to be overcome. I remember thinking and praying frantically on the way to see Greg that first time - frantic because I was not mentally prepared for this course of events, and our plan of a safe, neutral meeting place had been changed, yet excited because I realized that I cared about meeting Greg more than I had thought.

We had a fabulous afternoon and evening sharing photo albums, dinner, poking each other in the arm and exclaming "you're real!" I drove back to my parents' home very late that night... Before I left Greg gave me a 4-way medal on a chain that he had been given by his father, saying he wanted me to carry it with me for protection, and that he hoped he could give me another "shiny metal thing" someday.

Jenny