Both (e:Jason) and (e:Maureen) have written about relationships recently, and both entries lead me to think about the subject of being in a relationship and marriage...

As ya'll know, (e:cutsaniflush) is my husband. I am very proud to be his wife. But, 5 years ago, if someone had told me i would be married right now, i would have told the they were full of shit...

I never thought i was marriage material. I never thought i would get married. The thought didn't upset me, even if i was a little saddened to find out that i was, once again, not typical and certainly not "normal". I had been in some horrible, horrible relationships. Too many times i made choices based on my lack of confidence in myself... and sometimes, the availability of drugs from my partner. I can't entirely call myself a victim, but i was involved in an abusive relationship. I must have thought i deserved it, because i stuck around for far too long. Besides, his drugs were really good.

After that relationship, i became seriously ill and was partially forced to get clean (i dunno wny, but chemo and heroin don't mix. go figure). I was bald, single and newly focused. I remained celibate for about 10 years. It was the right thing for me to do. During that time, i found a lot of time to think.

I used to think i had an ideal man. As (e:Jason) mentioned, there are women who do this... men, too. We all think we have a type. I thought he would be British, maybe Irish, glasses, a bookworm, some sort of science geek perhaps. What can i say, i have weird taste? I didn't know where i would find this man, but i did think he was out there, waiting for me.

Then, i met a frog... thought he might be in Prince's clothing, just mixed up like me. But such was not the case. I got burned again... and thought i would go the celibacy route again for a while.

But i had this crush on some guy i knew online. He and i had been friends for a while... longer than i could remember, really. A year, perhaps.

He offered to pay for me to come visit him, but i was too gun shy after my last failure in the romance department. I didn't trust my instincts. Then, an odd thing happened. A former Prime Minister of Canada died, Pierre Trudeau, and it made me realize how short life is. So, i called him and we made arragements for me to visit him.

He met me at the airport on the night of Friday, October 6, 2000, and we were married on Saturday October 6, 2001. I have not regretted that decision for one moment. Being with him, marrying him. Moving to another country to be with him. Not even through all the immigration complications and stresses. I love him.

If i had to be with my type, my husband would not be who i would end up with. He and i have both said if we had met in person the first time, we might not have ever given each other a second look. But we met online, a forum in which we were both able to know someone before the thought of looks or "is he hot?" even came to mind. He is a wonderful loving caring intelligent person and i consider myself lucky to just know him, let alone be the person he decided to share his life with.

In order to find that person that we were meant to be with, whether it is forever or for a long time, or for a short life lesson, being open to the possibilities is all we can do. We will all get hurt. I wish it weren't so, but it is. But it's what we do with that hurt is what makes us better people and what we can do to make the relationship we are supposed to be in to be the way it should be.