Matt and I were about 14/15 when we met. We met through Tales of Midgar, an online FF7 Interactive group fan-fiction that's still up for archival purposes: http://midgartales.tripod.com/
We became good friends, but at the time I was really shy or at least nervous about relationships, so we stayed friends a long time regardless that both of us were developing attachments for each other. But, we are both super geeky in our own ways, often relating to video games. Hell, we joined an interactive fan fic group... that speaks volumes.
We started officially "dating" in June 3/00 when he called me at work and confessed he had a thing for me. We were 17 at the time. Our relationship though was kept secret from his parents which resulted in a strain because I hated it. (Broke up twice actually.)
Then in Sept 2/03 - Matt visited me for the first time. It was only for a week, but I was insanely happy. It was right as university was starting for me, so concentrating was difficult. When he returned home however, he finally told his parents all about me. I believe he simply said to them, "I've known this girl for a long time, I've been in love with this girl for years and now I'm sure." The irony is that his parents knew there was someone but was waiting for him to admit to it on his own terms. Ha!
In July 2004, it became my turn to visit Matt in California. I did so, nervously. I stayed for almost two months and got to meet almost his entire extended family and friends. It was a little nerve wracking because he had only met my immediate family. But, it went well.
On April 23rd, 2007, Matt decided to visit me the week of my Graduating Thesis Year's Graphic Design Art show. He kept saying how very "important" it was for him to be there and that I cannot stop him from visiting. :S Fishy... We had fun, he saw how psycho and stressed out graphic design makes me.
On April 26th was the day of the show. We drove around from print house to print house getting all my stuff ready the day before and even the morning of it. He kept saying he had a graduation gift for me and kept giving really vague hints about it... he knows how much carrot dangling drives me insane. At the show, he was cordial to my relatives that showed up as well as friends and classmates. We left after 3 hours (it sucked!) and went to dinner at the restaurant we had our first date at when he came to visit me in 2003. After dessert, he said he wanted to give me my graduation gift, so he got up, walked around the long 4-person table (hahah!) and dropped down to one knee. I started crying so he asked his question again as he was unsure if I was crying in rejection. XD
So here we are now, at the mercy of immigration like so many people here. :)
