This article was featured on February 13, 1998 in the Mt. Pleasant Daily Tribune
Authored by Kathy Zwernemann
This interview was conducted via Internet, using ICQ!
Couple Locates key to love on Internet
It wasn't exactly love at first byte, but you could say that Terry Edwards and Paul Guest did make a love connection when they found that they were each other's type.
Terry, who is a former Mount Pleasant resident now living in Longview let her fingers do the walking across the keyboard of her computer, right into an online chat room. She logged on one night about seven months ago as Teeny. That's when Paul, alias Travelin came on the screen and it wasn't long before he was in her heart. Tomorrow, on Valentine's Day, the two will promise to love each other forever, as they are married at the Spring Hill Baptist Church in Longview.
"We both chose to try out a channel on mIRC called #30's Romance and he was the only one who would talk to me," Terry said. "I'm very glad he did. I must say that I was very impressed with him from the start. We just seemed to 'connect' almost instantly."
Paul, who is a computer consultant from Frankfort, IN., said that he doesn't think neither her nor Terry was looking to start anything serious the day they signed online. "We just wanted to meet some people to talk with. After we met and talked so much, I started asking a lot of questions, wondering if there might be something there," he explained.
Paul and Terry with her daughter, Danielle
"We could talk together so well, and we had a lot of the same likes and dislikes. She was smart, and she laughed at most of my jokes, which is important," he smiled.
Terry, who is a nurse by profession, said that the relationship developed on the Internet and after two months of hours of talking every day, the couple decided to meet.
"We chose a very public place," she said..."The Shreveport airport!"
"Yes and Terry brought reinforcements with her, her sister and her youngest daughter," Paul added.
Terry and Paul had exchanged photos, which they said helped them recognize each other.
"I was so impressed with what I saw," Terry said. "I saw a glow in his eyes when he laughs and a warm smile on his face."
"The face-to-face part was pretty much a confirmation of what we felt pretty sure we already knew," Paul said. "It just took care of the last bit of doubt. And, even though we had built an 'Internet chemistry,' it was good to find out that we were physically attracted to each other as well.
Terry said the first meeting cinched it all for her. "I knew then that he was most definitely the one for me. The rest, as they say, is history!" "I certainly hadn't planned on falling in love, much less with someone I had met over the Internet," she said. "I just wanted to try the 'chat thing' and was very impressed by him. It seems that the more we talked, the more I felt something growing inside. I wasn't sure what it was or how to respond to it, it was just one of those things, kind of like fireworks in the heart." "And yes it can happen over the Internet," Terry noted.
Terry's mother Glenda Whatley of Mount Pleasant, said that she was horrified when her daughter told her about her newfound love. "But after the first time we met him, that was all it took," she said. "We were impressed."
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Paul and Terry Interneting
"I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend my life with," Paul said. "We took a trip to Memphis and I realized that I was in love with Terry because I was wanting more from our relationship than just talk on the Net. I knew I wanted us to be together. I cared about her and her kids. I wanted her to be my one and only for the rest of time. It was in Memphis, on a cruise, that I told her I loved her for the fist time. The look in her eyes told me she felt the same way. It was magical," Paul said.
Whatley said that so many people are afraid of the Internet, but she believes it is a wonderful device for any number of things.
"People can lie to you over a drink as well as hide behind lies on a keyboard, but like any kind of communication, your 'true' self comes out eventually," Paul said. "You have to be careful anytime you meet someone, no matter where it is."
So when they say their "I do's!" tomorrow they will become a ready-made Internet family. They each have two daughters. Terry said that both of her daughters approve of the marriage and that the youngest has already begun to call Paul, "Daddy." Paul's girls live in Indiana. He will keep in contact with them through the Internet between visits.
They have invited and are expecting Internet chat buddies to their wedding.
"Terry has kissed a lot of frogs before she found her Prince Charming," Whatley said, making Paul blush.
Terry agreed. "He most certainly is my Prince Charming."