When Paul Met Linda…. The show must go on

The next night came and I was there and so was Nu, we linked our avatars and talked amongst ourselves for most of the night, ignoring pretty much everything that went on around us. That was where it all began. We became a fixture together in the chat room and as time went by we became known as a VP couple and in private we behaved like a cyber married couple. We even had a VP wedding. We invited all our friends into a chat room and we had one of our more spiritual friends proceed over a blessing type event where we gave each other to each other.

By this point we were talking on the phone whenever we could and talk was turning to actually meeting physically. No it’s not like i could jump on a train on a Friday night and come back Sunday evening, this needed some serious planning and saving.
I am not sure how I did it but I had the money for the flight saved in a couple of months and the spending money would come from the months wages before I left. It wasn’t a fortune but it was enough when converted to dollars. As the excitement grew there was a set back. I couldn’t actually afford the plane ticket when I went to buy it. Prices had spiked due to some oil crisis. So being with Nu on valentines day was out. In the end I flew out two weeks later and planned to stay for the month of March.

I had never flown on my own before and to me it was building up to be a big adventure. I was a Rock and Roll cowboy do something wild and carefree. Dropping life for a month and being reckless, knowing that when the month was over I would return back and slot back into normality renewed and invigorated and who knows maybe start the process of becoming an American citizen if things had worked out well.

The day arrived, my best friend Nigel had kindly offered to drive me to the airport to catch my flight and had come down with his girlfriend the night before. We sat around and chatted about the old days and how much of a big leap I was taking. To me it was just a holiday and I was going to visit with someone I had gotten close with on the internet. I had no idea what to exp[ect. I knew that I got along so well with Linda on the internet and I loved her. She said she loved me and that was all that we needed. The age gap was not an issue for either of us and it never was and never has been since.

The morning I left it was weird, here I was flying out of the country for a whole month and things seemed totally normal. Mum had to work (she couldn’t get the day off). As she walked out of the door she had her usual quips for me and of course she wished me every joy during my holiday and that she would miss me. She must have apologized 100 times for not being able to come to the airport with me but I understood, i really did.. or so I thought.

After she left the house, it struck me that something wasn’t quite right. I ran downstairs and out into the street and stopped her to find her crying whilst walking. She had a feeling that it was going to be much longer than a month before she saw me again. She didn’t tell me that until much much later but that is what the tears were about. She was sad that she couldn’t come to the airport to see me off on my big adventure. We had had our ups and downs but I was still her eldest son who was venturing out to a whole new world. I guess she felt abandoned and I guess I did abandon her. She went from having a full house to living alone. I do feel guilty for that but We are making up for it now.

Once at the airport, I unknowingly said goodbye to my old life. Every minute from there on out would be something new and uncharted. At the time I thought i was going on a beano for a month to recharge my batteries and to fulfill a life long ambition of seeing the United States. I waved good bye to Nigel and walked through the departure lounge door.

Goodbye old life welcome to the new world order.

to be continued… hahahahahaha