My best friend, whom I have known most of my life, bought a computer. I played on it a few times and thought of it as an "expensive toy". He met his wife on-line, and like most people, I thought it was a "strange" thing to meet and fall in love with a person who you first met as an "alias". I was his Best Man at their wedding and his wife was a sweet person, and the best thing that ever happened to him. I played on his computer a few more times and finally decided that I should "join the 90s". When I found the system that I finally purchased, I asked his opinion of it since I didn't know anything about computers. He helped me set-it-up and BANG, I was on-line.

When I first went on-line, I used the Microsoft Network, since it was "on my desktop". While searching their network, I came across the "official Star Trek site" and being a huge fan started searching their site. Like any "newbie" to the net, I spent every waking moment I could in the Star Trek Continuum, (yes, I did the 3:00am thing on a work-night.....lol). I became very familiar with the Continuum, and spent most of my time in their chat rooms, the Starfleet Lounge and Quark's Bar. I learned all the little "tricks" of the rooms and would help new people when they had questions on how or why things worked. I guess you could say I was one of the "originals" of the first Lounge.

Being a fan of The Original Series, my alias was "Capt Pike" and people who watched TOS knew why I picked that name. This was my alias the first time I met "SYLVIANNIE". She was new to the room and I explained a few "rules of conduct" to her. The one that sticks in my mind the most was the use of CAPS. I told her it was considered "shouting" and shouldn't be used all the time. She said it was easier to read but that she would use lower case to be polite. The next time I saw SYLVIANNIE on-line she wanted to ask me some more questions about the room. She said they were easy questions, but she was just "dense". I told her how to open a "Secure Channel" which was a private room that only 2 people could be in. I told her it was easier to type in there and that nobody could see her questions. I also told her she could use ALL CAPS because it didn't bother me. The BIG question she had was about her e-mail. I had just had the same problem and said I knew what to do. After we went over the whole procedure she said she would give it a try and that I would see her later. Three (3) days later I saw her on-line again and asked her if the e-mail was working right. She told me she had "crashed" her computer after doing what I told her to do. I apologized and felt terrible. She said she got it all back and everything was working right now. I gave her my phone number and told her to call me if I ever did something like that again. We still talked in the chat room and started to become close friends.

One day after Syl said it was time to go, the phone rang. To my surprise it was Syl. We talked for a few minutes and both of us enjoyed the chance to "hear" each others voice. This went on for about a month, she would leave the chat room and call me on the phone. The more we talked the closer we became. We had so much in common, family, music, likes and dislikes. The main thing we had in common was the fact that neither of us wanted to be married. She had been before, her husband had died 12 years earlier, and I had never been married and never planned on getting married. The more I learned of Syl, the more I knew she was the one woman who could change my point of view. We started to send each other letters and cards, and of course we swapped photos. It became even more real to me when she was away for a few days and I didn't get to see her on-line or talk to her on the phone. When she did get back form her little trip I told her I would get "Neil Diamond" tickets and give her a place to stay, if she came out to Oklahoma. She said yes and the wheels were started in motion. I sent her money for half the plane fare, I told her "I would pay to get her out here but she would have to pay to go home".

Syl called me just before she left for the airport and I said I would be there to meet her. That seemed like the longest day of my life. While I was waiting at the airport for her, everything was great, then her plane pulled up to the gate. My heart started to beat faster, and all of a sudden I was nervous. What if she didn't like me? What if I wasn't what she had envisioned? What if she didn't get on the plane? My mind was going a million miles an hour. Then I saw her, the most beautiful woman to ever walk the Earth. Her smile calmed my heart and all my fears were gone. That was on a Tuesday and on Sunday I "popped the question". To my delight Syl said yes!!! As we discussed plans we learned even more then ever we thought alike. Both of us wanted to get married on-line in the room we first met. We discussed it with Paramount and they were all for it. We also decided to get married on the day that the new Star Trek Movie "First Contact" came out. Once again Paramount came though, giving us their blessings and support. We found a Minister who would come to my house to perform the ceremony and I got my best friend and his wife to be my Best Man and his wife to type our wedding ceremony on the computer. Of course all the best laid plans go for not. Durring our ceremony, lo-and-behold we became disconnected from the server. The ceremony stopped as I worked to get us "back on-line". Fortunately everything went quick and we were back in the Lounge and our Wedding proceeded without any more setbacks. It was great to have people from all over the world at our Wedding and it seemed that everyone enjoyed the "strangest" wedding that they had ever gone to.

We moved back to Syl's hometown so we could be closer to her family and started the most wonderful life together. Every day is better then the last and both of our lives have been changed for the best.