There Must Be Something in the Water--A Congratulations Party

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

So, Paul and I became email buddies, and I must say that if that was all we’d ever been I’d still be one of the luckiest girls on the planet.

It’s amazing the things he will do just to make me happy and giggly for a moment. I remember once, he went through all the trouble of setting up several email accounts so that “Russell Crowe”, “Jude Law” and “Robin Williams” could mail me. It was one of the sweetest things I can ever remember anyone doing for me, ever.

And I’m not sure how or why, but an enormous amount of trust built up between the two of us, and we began confiding things to each other that we’d never told anyone else. The first time we ever spoke on the phone, we talked for three hours straight…it felt as if I’d known him all my life and talking to him was as natural as talking to myself.

We both developed “feelings” for each other, but the situation was impossible and so we never spoke about them.

Meanwhile, I’d decided that a divorce was the only solution for my marital problems. Things got really ugly at home. Paul worried for me and proposed to come visit me to make sure I was okay and cheer me up.

He was supposed to fly in on a Saturday, but stood me up…

…to be continued. :smiley:

22

Damhna and tater, I know it’s been a rough road getting here, but the strength and depth of your love for one another has seen you through and will continue to do so. You’ve found something very rare and special that many people never get to experience in a lifetime. As a member of the SDMB transatlantic romance league™, I can assure you that the amazing future ahead of you is worth every struggle it will take to realize the goal of sharing your lives together. Never lose sight of your blessings, as they are many. Congratulations and best of luck to both of you. You’re two very special people and deserve all the happiness coming your way.

Jeg elsker dig, Thomas

23

To his credit, he did leave me a short message on my phone, but didn’t go into details so I had no idea why he’d cancelled on me or why he didn’t call back to reschedule.

(Turns out he had a good reason involving his family, but at the time I was in the dark)

So, I was very bummed out on Saturday and more than a bit peeved that he didn’t call back to explain things further.

The next day, I went out with my ex-husband and our son to do some shopping. While I was waiting for them in the car, I checked my phone (which had been off all day) and got the following messages:

*I’m in Dublin Airport.

Arrived Frankfurt Airport.

Taking train to Heidelberg.

In Heidelberg.*

So, I freak out because I can’t exactly tell the ex-husband that I need him to watch the kid so I can meet some guy off of the internet. (Without going into details, my ex was very jealous) I called Paul up and I’m afraid I was a bit, um, flying off the handle-ish. I believe my exact words were: “Okay, you stood me up yesterday and now you’re just going to show up and expect me to be there?”

Poor Paul, I don’t know how he puts up with me.

So, I’m trying to figure out where he is, and my ex comes back to the car so I have to hang up really quickly and Paul isn’t sure if I’m meeting him or not or even if he wants to meet me at this point because I sounded so angry on the phone.

More later…

24

As the co-founder of the SDMB transatlantic romance league, I welcome you two into the club.

25

So, at this point I only have a vague idea of where Paul is and am in a real tizzy. My ex gets back to the car, and we drive home where I promtly tell him “Look I need some air, I’m going for a walk” and leave before he can object or ask questions.

Of course, I was a frightful mess and wearing my ugly shoes.

Anyhoo, I message Paul that I’ll meet him at the train station…for some reason I couldn’t get through to his phone and he couldn’t get through to mine, so I had no idea wether or not he’s getting my messages or if he’ll be there.

We both get to the train station, can’t find each other until finally I go to a pay phone and am able to reach his phone that way and arrange to meet at the tourist info kiosk.

Where we found each other and began about four hours of not looking at or touching each other. It was very strange, but we were both determined that nothing untoward should happen that night.

He explained that he’d had to take his sister home to Ireland (from Germany) on Saturday because of an injury and that on Sunday morning he flew back to Frankfurt from Dublin and took the train to Heidelberg on the chance that I could meet him for a few hours.

Can you imagine finding out that somebody went through all that time, trouble and expense just to meet you for a couple of hours? I was quite overwhelmed…nobody had ever done anything that sweet for me before.

So, I took Paul down to the old part of town to see a few sites and we found a bar to sit in and talk…

More later…

26

Well I’m glad thats one secret I don’t have to keep. It was weird the last few times I talked on ICQ to tater…she was actually gushing, a change from the usual cynical and sometimes bizzare conversations we had…I have to say I liked it…

Keith

27

This is great to hear.
I’m so glad for the 2 of you.
It’s so cool to hear about people that
become a couple on the SDMB.
Many congratulations from me
and good luck to the 2 of you.:slight_smile:

28

Ever the writer, Tracy seems intent on dragging this one out for maximum dramatic effect and getting some mileage from our happy tale. While we wait for the thrilling climax there are a couple of things I wanted to say.

I came to the SDMB looking for help and company and well I found a whole lot more than I could have ever imagined. I do understand how important Tracy has become to many of you, the people who have known her for a lot longer than I have and who have become true and valued friends. I can understand how this unique and unusual community has developed a protective attitude and can only hope in time to reassure you all that my number one mission is ensuring Tracy’s happiness and nurturing all the things in her that have been neglected for so long.

Okay admittedly there are fringe benefits to choosing such a mission :slight_smile: ; I am indeed a lucky SOB.

I promised I wouldn’t gush and so I’ll spare you all the sonnets and the prose and the mush, but I can assure the Clonsilla Bodyguard, the Daniutch Enforcers, the Wimmins,the Twist and all concerned that I will make sure that this is the beginning of a new bliss for us both.

29

I just wanted to pop in right quick and add my congratulations. This is absolutely smashings! :smiley: All the best, tater and Damhna!

30

fantastic. best wishes to both of you. it is wonderful when good things happen to good people.

31

Dearest tater…

I am so happy for you! You are a darling, and you deserve only the very best things in life.

It sounds like you got it! :slight_smile:

Congratulations, Damhna! You are, indeed, a very lucky man!

Much Love,

Cheri

32

Sorry about the long delay, board was taking too long to load earlier.

I’ve been to dinner and had a bit too much Chianti, so I hope this is coherent.

So, the two of us are sitting in the bar, avoiding looking at each other. Instead, we looked at the ceiling…good thing they’d decorated it with coffee bags and tin foil, so we had lots to look at. We had so much to talk about and had fun, even if we must have looked like idjets staring at the ceiling.

(Speaking of, I think it would be fun to get the bartender who was working that night to post…I’d like to hear his POV)

Eventually, the conversation worked it’s way around to what my plans were for after the divorce. I told Paul that as I saw it my only choice was to move to Tennessee and live near my family.

We were both very depressed about this, but what could we do? It was hopeless; we lived in different countries, were both still technically married and I had TinyTot’s interests to look after.

And we knew there was no way we could make this work and so he looked into my eyes and I looked into his and said, because by now there was no point in pretending because we both knew what each other wanted, “We’re stuck”.

But suddenly we weren’t because once we looked into each other’s eyes we had no choice anymore, there was no other option but to find a way to work it out. None. You might have as well have told me to stop breathing; I would have just about the same chance as doing that as I would of contemplating a life without Paul.

And he kissed me and I kissed him and I looked at him and said “Okay, I’ll move to Dublin then, and we’ll work things out”.

More coming…

33

(((((tater & Damhna)))))
Ah, don’tcha just love spring? All this happy love stuff everywhere! :smiley:

34

Ah bugger, Coldie. Sorry 'bout that ! Not thinking straight at goodness knows what time…maybe 7.00am. Apologies.

While I’m here, I suppose the most important question has yet been resolved:

Cough up, Damhna – Cavalier or Roundhead ?
Is this to be another triumph for the European Hoods ?

(Who said romance is dead !)

35

The observant reader will be asking themselves these questions:

[ul]

[li]Just how long could tater pretend to be out walking?[/li]
[li]Shouldn’t that Damhna person be getting back on a plane to go back to Dublin so he’ll be on time for work on Monday?[/li]
[li]Who invited tater to move to Dublin, much less into Damhna’s aparment anyhow?[/li]
[/ul]

The Answers to the above questions are:

[ul]

[li]After about 3 hours I called the ex and 'fessed up that I was really with a friend.[/li]
[li]Poor Damhna not only missed his flight, he was late for work the next morning. Imagine explaining that one to your boss.[/li]
[li]You know, it only occured to me last month that I had neither asked or been asked to move into Paul’s apartment. Heh. So, I asked and he said it was okay, which is a good thing because I already invited half the message board, most of my family and a few people I met at Macaroni Grill tonight to come visit and sleep in the guest room.[/li]
[/ul]

Those questions out of the way, Paul and I were deliriously happy and more than a bit relieved that we could finally stop staring at the ceiling. Neck strain is a bitch you know.

We sat for a few more hours and talked and snuggled and [sub]acted disgustingly cute and gooey[/sub] <—[sub]you didn’t hear that from me.[/sub], then it was time to leave so we went walked along the Hauptstrasse hand in hand and started planning our incredibly bright future together.

We got back to the train station and realized that it was very, very late and there weren’t likely to be any more flights to Dublin until morning…

…And since I couldn’t very well bring Paul back to my place, we went into the first hotel we saw and checked him in…alone. :frowning:

(If I might digress, that was one of the more surreal foreign language experiences of my life. The clerk would speak in German to me, I would translate it into English, then the clerk would say “yes, blah blah blah” to Paul in English. As if he were testing my German. Bizarre)

Then Paul put me in a taxi, I went home and had to explain things to the ex. Heh.

(Now that is another story, which strangely involves Bethie, too. She’s just all kinds of in my business)

I’m tired now, but there is more I want to say, so I’ll post it tomorrow.

36

Ahh…yes. The wonderful story of love!
Just to give you guys a view of what this all looked like from the outside, I have experienced a lot of bizarre stuff!

First, Russell Crowe never did follow through on his e-mail promise to show up and rescue me from under that pile of textbooks–good thing I made it out myself.

Also, I spent many, many, many mornings on e-mail convincing tatertot that yes, she should go for this–it was okay, everything would work out, blah, blah, blah.

Every now and then I got to e-mail with Damhna about the same type of thing. You know, come to think about it, maybe they don’t really love each other? Maybe I just over-convinced them it was love with all my goofy Chicken-Soup-for-the-Doper’s-Soul e-mail glurge? Nah…I’m pretty sure they saw straight through that. :slight_smile:

I’m so happy for you guys! And remember–you have to name your first-born daughter after me! Okay, well, at least name your pet fish after me or something. Please?

37

Oh, wow… I don’t know what to say. I feel all giddy and stuff reading this story. I am really, really happy that you’re happy tater. If anyone deserves happiness, it’s you. And Damhna, I don’t know you at all, but suffice it to say that I will join the Daniutch Happiness Reinforcement Team in a heartbeat. For gallons of Guinness or poppings of kneecaps…
And evilbeth, you need to change your handle to sweetiebeth. Hell, I’m thinking of naming my fish after you…

38

The Hoods have it.

Tempted to make mention of the ayes but I haven’t had enough coffee yet.

39

Well, I’d heard rumors about this before, but nothing specific until now. Congratulations to the both of you! I know you’ll make a happy couple and wonderful parents to the TinyTaterTot!

(BTW … on the way from Tennessee to Dublin, could you snag evilbeth and drop her off in RI for me? :wink: )

40

Hey, that would be an excellent way to show your gratitude, tater!