I met the man of my dreams online on Feb. 28, 1996. I was new to the internet and had placed several pen-pal ads in the hopes that I would finally start getting some email in my empty inbox. I received my first message from Matt, and I was really excited about corresponding with someone from Alaska because I had never travelled outside the South before. (I had lived my entire life in Tennessee.) We gradually grew very close, and just a little over a month later, we said "I love you" for the first time. That was on Tuesday, April 2, 1996. We were both shocked when we realized that we had finally found true love. That Friday was Good Friday, and I left school to go home for the weekend which meant I was without Internet access. We were both miserable, and when I got back to school on Sunday, he asked that I call him for a little bit. That was our first phone call of many. During that phone call, we decided that he should try to fly down to meet me and my family. Within a week, the date was decided, and we both waited anxiously for May 14, 1996. As I waited at the airport, I paced back and forth and was extremely nervous. All those anxious feelings disappeared when I saw my Matt walking towards me. Both of us smiled somewhat shyly, and then we hugged each other. We walked hand-in-hand to pick up his luggage and spent the next 10 days together. During that time, he asked me to marry him, and I gladly said yes. When he left on May 24, 1996, we were somewhat sad of course because we were going to be apart again, but there was also a real joy because we knew that we had found true love and would soon be together forever. During the summer, I was again without Internet access so we relied on the phone and on daily letters. We decided on August 16, 1996 as a wedding day. He flew down on August 14, and some other members of his family flew down the next day to be at the wedding. We were married on the 16th in front of the Knox County Courthouse, and we were surrounded by family and friends. On August 23, we got on a plane to come up to Fairbanks where Matt is a graduate student. I enrolled as a transfer student, and we live on campus in married housing. Neither of us has ever been happier. Yeah, online romances can definitely be successful. We're proof of that. You just need to be honest with each other. For the first time in my life, I find beauty in my status as a BBW, and I have my Matt to thank for that.