On a dark and stormy night

When the World Wide Web was new

I had just gotten a modem

And an Internet connection too

My buddy and I went online

And found Yahoo! chat rooms

There began the romance

That became me and you.

I met Kristen online some twenty years ago. I went online with a buddy of mine, Austin Carter, who explored with me Yahoo! chat rooms. On that Dell computer, upstairs in my parents' house, we got to talk to folks from all over the world and some from Ashe County too. We thought we were awesome, and we had the world at our fingertips. We spent the entire night by the lamplight and by the glow of the CRT. Austin went home, and I used my Dell desktop PC to continue the communications. Netscape Navigator and a giant, 17" Trinitron screen became the window into Kristen's heart, when Austin later introduced me.

Happiness_Love_99 and I met in cyberspace and moved over to AIM. It was another messaging service, and I appended a zero to my alias. She became known to me as KMHappinessLove, and that was a name I would always remember for the comfort it evoked. KM was Kristen Mann (AKA the love of my life).

Recently, she and I were on an online dating service. The two of us had not changed a bit, as we continued to utilize the Internet for our social and dating outlets. We were two tech nerds in the cloud. Who would have guessed?

I awakened one morning to a message notification on my iPhone from OkCupid. A simple hello-turned-flowing conversation had me enamored from the start, and as we unfolded the dialogue, hints here and there cued Kristen.

She remembered I went to RJR; she remembered my dad was a doctor; she remembered I lived in Winston-Salem, and she remembered my name on Yahoo! Messenger. This was unbeknownst to me and startling once she finally asked me, "What was your screen name?" Reluctantly I replied with an "alexk36" and wondered if she were a stalker (j/k!).

When she told me "KMHappinessLove" I fell instantly again, allured by two simple words that were all I needed and all I wanted.

Immediately upon our epiphany, we met ASAP at a random music store parking lot in Kernersville, North Carolina, and we spent the night chatting away, only this time, finally in person.

Kristen and I have been inseparable since then, and since seventh grade or so onward. As if it were digital destiny, we decided to tie the knot. <3 <3 <3

Wedding Party