C: I was really wondering, why am I still in her contacts list? How could this be that she is emailing me when we have had no contact since October (12)? Anyhow, I was really excited and my heart was doing all sorts of things. I was at my parent’s house in Edsbyn and I replied to her email immediately! (This was on my Christmas break and I was checking my work email …hmm, well, I am glad I did).
I told her I was at my parents house, apologised for not emailing and told her what happened with the “wave-project” and thanked her for the effort she put into helping me finding a sign (and hoping that she was trying to give me a sign 😉 ). I also told her to join our conference online. In this email, I also told her that I was helping my sister to move (“so big brother (me) is helping her”). Marian has told me later, that uptil me telling this, she had thought that I was a girl (the only name that resembles Christer in Oz is Christa (female)).
I’ll leave that story for her to tell. Anyhow, the last thing I said in this email was: “do you have messenger?”
It is a boy!
M: Several emails followed, with just light friendly conversation, about two months worth. One fateful email Christer had answered a question from me on what the weekend had contained. As I sat at my computer reading the email, things went into slow motion as I read the words ” I helped my sister to move, you know the big BROTHER thing to do”
I read the sentence again slowly as my brain caught up to the horrible realization that this new girlfriend I had been chatting to was actually a Swedish BOY! A boy I had been chatting to for a few months now.
“Oh S—!” I screamed at the computer screen – thoughts whirling around my head, desperately hoping I hadn’t said anything embarrassing about the general Gorgeousness of Swedish males. Then several emails followed over the next few months, and then some silence followed. Christmas came around and I sent a Christmas greeting to my new friend in Sweden. Little did I know that it really made an impact on the recipient. Christer eventually asked me if I ever used MSN Messenger, and of course I was quite an expert on that by now. We connected Messenger for over an hour and I could not sleep after that session.
The queen of messenger
C: I am not sure when or how she told me that she had messenger, but I know that I got her onto my messenger list. She sent me another email on December 29 (me is back at work then). I sent her a quick reply. The next step in our relationship happened at 1.34 AM (the same night for me, after coming home from church). I was just checking my email like I always do b4 going to bed. All of a sudden that characteristic sound of someone logging into messenger was heard and Marian was online!!!!
My heart was trying to get out of my chest – it was beating so hard! That was our first chat session; we covered many subjects talking for two hours. (My sister was sleeping in the kitchen, or actually she even saw that I was chatting b4 she went to bed). I helped Marian install real player on the computer as well during this session, wanted her to hear our new CD and join conference.
This midnight adventure even made me sick. Next day at conference I had to go home early, I slept lots and was very sick. Felt better next day, still not awesome. Marian went away with friends for a few days and we missed one opportunity to chat on the 2nd of January.
That is when I figured out “Swatch Internet Time” and asked Marian for an online date (“fika”) the first time. We were going to meet @417. We were both very punctual, I did not dare to leave my computer. We started with a 3-minute break to get some “fika” (I was gonna get tea, but ended up getting coke).
From online chatting to phone calls
M: The following chat sessions online were becoming more and more easy, fun and intriguing. My heart would start to race as I logged on, just hoping that Christer’s icon would be active. My parents started to make fun of the amount of time spent at the computer when I was holidaying 15 mins away from some of the best Australian beaches.
They also started highlighting how much I was giggling and smiling to myself while sitting watching a computer screen. I myself wondered why my mind was so preoccupied, and my heart rate kept increasing each time I sat down to chat. I wondered what was happening to me, was I hallucinating??
Christer eventually asked if he could call me, of which I was totally cynical of ever happening. So I gave him my mobile number, which I knew was out of range. He also discovered this. When he did call 8 seconds after I gave him a reachable number, I was in such shock I could not speak and gave the phone to my mum, so Christer and my mum chatted for about 10 mins first. Basically until I caught my breath.
From that moment I knew my life was about to change. This was really becoming something that dreams were made of, especially mine. That first phone call cemented something in my heart that the future was looking bright, and yet I still tried to keep a sense of detachment. Protecting my heart from possible disappointment, even though I could not sleep that night or most of the following nights. Wondering what exactly was happening here.