Author’s Foreword
The Internet can sometimes be a fickle mistress often taking more than it gives in return, but sometimes a person’s need to feel connected can overwhelm their need to be cautious. Until the arrival of instantaneous connections, meeting new people often tended to be leisurely, happening at a much slower pace, and in much different settings, but now those connections seem to be frantic, random and fast-paced. In today’s world, we often know what a person is eating for breakfast even before the cereal bowl is in the sink. Facebook, Twitter, phone-texting all seem to fulfill a person’s need to connect, to include others in their daily lives, let the world know who they are, what they are doing, and what they are thinking. The Internet is a great equalizer; a medium where people can hide behind their words, a place where words, not beauty, wealth, social standing or body-strength, have power.
Who is hiding behind those words? Is that person who they really say they are, or are they making an attempt to be someone they truly aren’t? Do we know who our children, our spouses or our friends are really communicating with? It has always amazed me how willing people seem to be to open up to total strangers and reveal their innermost feelings to people they haven’t even met except through social media. Some may argue social media is just a natural progression of mankind’s need to band together, a global village, of sorts, while others argue that, unlike a village where everybody is connected in one way or another, today’s social media is an isolator, one that encourages impersonal one-on-one connections that often exclude, rather than include.
This story is about such a connection between two people who have connected through social media, quite by accident, and their journey as they discover each other, or who they think each other is. Unlike a marriage where two people are forced to deal with everyday problems and situations, a social media relationship can be carefully crafted, its pace carefully controlled, and its outcome often predictable far in advance. Come join Robert, Abby, Edward and Vicki on their journeys to find happiness, contentment and love in the Internet fantasy world.
Robert Meets Abby For the First Time
Robert had done some zany things in his life, but this adventure could certainly be at the top of his list as being the most daring and exciting one. Standing in the Delta baggage claim area at the Charleston airport and anxiously glancing at the arrival screen, he saw Abby’s plane would be more than an hour late; not a good start. Today was supposed to be an exciting and wonderful day, but it had already been unbelievably stressful. Afraid the alarm clock wouldn’t go off at the right time and waking up every hour to check the time, he decided to get out of bed long before the alarm clock finally did go off. Even a hot shower and a cup of black coffee didn’t help clear the cobwebs as he tried to remember everything he needed to take with him on the trip. Fortunately, the already packed suitcase was sitting by the bed and everything he needed to get ready was neatly laid out; organization was one of the most important things in his life; he needed order in his life, it was his lifeline to sanity and reason.
Traffic was light heading towards the St. Louis airport, but right before the airport exit, the traffic came to an abrupt stop with bumper-to-bumper cars as far as he could see. A tractor-trailer had overturned in the middle of the on-ramp to I-70 and the exit was closed. Amid a sea of flashing lights, the state troopers were waving the cars to continue and get off at the next exit, then loop back onto the highway. Robert hated getting stuck in traffic jams, but was glad he had allowed a few extra minutes on this trip to the airport. Finding the parking garages nearest the terminals were full and the cars were being directed to head back out of the airport to the off-site parking didn’t help his stress level either. Every parking space seemed to be filled and only fruitless trips up and down the endless rows passing others on the same quest finally resulted in nabbing what seemed to be the last available spot in the vast sea of parked cars. By the time he finally parked the car, Robert was so stressed he almost forgot to retrieve the bunch of pink carnations he had stashed in the trunk for safe-keeping the night before; Abby had told him pink carnations were her favorite flowers; she said they reminded her of her high-school proms.
