So when I got the email I thought it was cute but not nearly as witty and charming as Jim thought it was. I didn't know if I should write back or not. My friend Claudia from CM offered to read his profile for me. She read it and encouraged me to write him. I thought, "What the heck? I'll send something real quick. It's only a reply. He probably won't write back anyway..."
I was amazed that Lisa wrote me back as fast as she did. Her response was short but very sweet and nice. It was almost surreal that this woman, whose posts I had been reading and I felt like I kind of knew, was actually writing to me! It was like I was talking with a celebrity!
Because her note was so short, I wasn't quite sure if she was politely brushing me off or interested in talking more. So I had yet another brilliant idea. I told her the story of the one and only time I had ever been to Canada (which happened to be a visit to Windsor, Ontario, near her hometown). I told the story in my trademark silly way, and just ended my e-mail with no other comments or questions. If she still wrote back, I knew that she was interested....
As, you probably guessed...she did write back. ;) This began a week's worth of e-mails back and forth. By the end of the week, we had already talked longer and more in depth than I had ever expected! I assumed that we would keep on sending e-mails for the next several weeks.
So imagine my surprise at the end of that same week, when Lisa invited me to an online chat session! I remember thinking, “She wants to chat ALREADY?” I was surprised but also very excited that she wanted to take things to the “next level” so fast, and that she was initiating it!
Our first chat went very well. We typed to each other for hours! I told her all of my dumb stories that I tell people when I first meet them. And she didn't close the chat on me, so I assumed she liked them at least a little. ;)
We had so much fun that first chat, that we decided to keep on chatting in between the e-mails. And as we got to know each other better, we started chatting more often...until it was just about every day! We were having a great time getting to know each other. Some nights (on the weekends) we were up until 3-4 AM talking!
We had a lot of fun, but even more than that, we started developing a strong connection. Remember in Part 1 when I said that I agreed with just about everything she posted on Catholic Match (CM)? Well, when we got to chatting, I discovered that as I asked her questions, and she asked me questions back, we would almost ALWAYS end the discussion with “I totally agree with you.” It was amazing! To have so much in common with someone, AND to be able to enjoy myself so much, was very exhilarating. I found myself looking forward to 7-8 PM every night when we would talk.
Pretty soon, we got to the point where I knew we had to move to yet another level and talk on the phone. I got up the nerve over the course of a few chats to ask for her number (although she made it easier by strongly hinting that she would enjoy talking on the phone also ;) ). I knew there were ways to talk over the Internet, but I insisted on calling her on the phone because I thought it would be more “gentlemanly” to talk that way.
So, we set up a date to talk. I had to summon up yet more courage, but once I dialed the number, we had a great conversation. Yes, we were both a little nervous at first, but we were both surprised at how easy the conversation flowed. By the end, we had talked for four hours!! And the time just flew by.
Lisa kept asking me, “Isn't this costing you a fortune?” I kept saying, “Naaah, you dial Canada the same way you dial the US, so it must be about the same cost!” Little did I realize that by the end of the call (and I'm not exaggerating here), it would have been cheaper for me to get on a plane, fly to her house, and talk to her in person! Ooops....
So, from that time on, we used Skype to talk to each other online...for free! We kept talking for hours and never seemed to run out of things to discuss. We started to get to know each other pretty well. We even started joking about getting married within the first couple weeks of talking! It was the first sign that we were not just having fun, but falling in love....
But as we got closer emotionally, I still struggled with the idea of priesthood. What was God calling me to? I felt a deep connection with Lisa, but was still unsure of what it meant. As I struggled with this, we starting talking about meeting each other in person, just to see if we still had that connection in person. If not, then maybe that would make our decision for us about whether or not to move any closer towards a relationship.
And so, after lots of prayer and discussion, we set a date to meet. I got on a plane and flew to the Detroit airport. I went down the escalator into the baggage claim area...and suddenly I was face-to-face with Lisa for the first time! I was amazed at how pretty she looked in person, as opposed to the blurry picture you get on Skype!
We had an amazing 3-day weekend together. She took me all around her hometown and showed me where she grew up, her schools, etc. I got to go with her to Mass at the churches where she works and see her “in action”! And, of course, I got to meet her wonderful family, who were all so generous to me (I had a couple of yummy home-cooked meals!). And we still spent long hours talking...but this time, we got to do it in person! It was very hard to say goodbye each night when she dropped me off at my hotel!
I came back from the trip more conflicted than ever. I had SUCH a great time with Lisa, but I still wasn't sure if this is what God wanted for me. Lisa and I had a lot of heart-to-heart talks during this time. There were even a few arguments along the way. But we both couldn't deny what we were feeling, and in the midst of our emotional discussions about where this whole thing was going, we finally had to say what we both were feeling. We said “I love you” for the first time! We were both so happy to finally have said it, but it also made things all the more difficult because even with all that I felt for Lisa, I just wasn't sure.
However, there was one tiny detail that complicated matters. You see, before we even started talking, she had planned to come to Chicago to visit some of the friends she had met on CM over the July 4th weekend. I was going to be in town anyway for the holiday, and it seemed silly to be right in the same town and not see each other. So, we had to decide what to do. Should we take time off for me to think, or should we just go ahead and see each other for a second time? We talked and talked about it, but in the end, we knew what we had to do....
Stay tuned for Part 3 soon.......... (here's praying this is not a 17 part series!)
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