This story is probably boring to some people - but to understand the randomness of it all...I need to talk about the World - of Warcraft. So sorry for the long story, but I can't help it. This is the story of how a random whisper in Stormwind leads to a girl meeting her soul-mate, the love of her life.
Our story starts almost four years ago - sometime in 2008. After seeing an advertisement online, I downloaded the trial version of World of Warcraft. I liked it - fell in love with the game fairly quickly, but the social aspect of the game made me nervous. I've always been socially awkward and somewhat introverted. So, I was playing along, loving my Rogue, "Amargaree" (random name generator FTW), running around Stormwind at level twenty-something when I got a random whisper from someone named "Vorenus" asking if I would like to join his guild, "Free Masons". I had yet to work up the courage to join a guild, but I said yes.
I was in "Free Masons", leveling and enjoying learning about Azeroth. I didn't have any meaningful contact with Vorenus - we ran a few dungeons together with other guild members, but never chatted on a personal level. He did, however, give me the gold for my first mount during an Uldaman run - so sweet!
Then one day, Vorenus disappeared. I noticed, but didn't really think much about it. Over a few months I played my rogue, but started another character - a priest named "Shealyn" - that would become my main character after I learned more about the game.
Moving on from the "Free Masons", I met other people in the game...started a guild..joined another guild. As I was leveling my beloved Priest, "Shealyn", through Hellfire Peninsula I see "Vorenus" asking for help with a quest in general chat. My heart actually skipped a little beat. I remembered this guy - he was the first person in WoW who was nice to me. I immediately message him and offer my help. He was still in the "Free Masons", and although he didn't remember me from my Rogue - he invited me back to the guild. From this point, the friendship started to blossom a bit. Nothing too significant - we ran dungeons together with a few other friends. I still remember the first time I heard him on voice chat. His voice was so attractive.
Wrath of the Lich King was released (a WoW expansion). This is really where our friendship started to take off. We raided together, talked about personal stuff, just basically became friends - with no romantic inklings. There was a group of about four of us in the guild who did everything together. At this point, "Vorenus" and "Shealyn" were running the guild together. The guild kind of exploded with membership, and took off as a social raiding guild.
The pressure eventually got to us, and we passed the guild on to someone else and left the server along with a few other friends. At this point, We were playing WoW together every night. Started another guild on our new server, picked up a few new people and started a small raiding guild. Everything was still all in the game though, and on Vent. Oh, but we did have one of those "Put a face to a voice" threads on our guild forums. I still remember him whispering me saying, "You're a pretty gal." (aww!)
Sometime around August or September of 2010, one night after work I get on Vent and he asks me to come down to a private channel with him. He proceeds to tell me that "he thinks he needs to quit WoW because he has feelings for me." Well, first my heart PLUMMETS when I hear him say he's going to quit WoW...I'm like NOOOOO...my best friend!!!! Then I hear the "I have feelings for you" part, and I'm all giddy. I try to play it coy, and tell him that I had feelings for him too, but the whole distance thing would probably be an issue. At this point - I really didn't even think that we'd ever meet. I thought it would just blow over or something. Of course that was me trying to set myself up to expect failure - I'm good at that. Oh, and he sent me roses on my birthday in October after that.
I laugh about it now, but at the time I thought it was odd. He internet stalked me..found out my sister's name - contacted her on Facebook and got the address to my office.
The First Meeting: December 31, 2010. I live in Birmingham, Alabama. Terry lives right outside Orlando, Florida. He drove from Florida to Birmingham on New Years Eve 2010. This was all still REALLY new for both of us. We weren't a couple, we were just two best friends meeting for the first time who thought they had feelings for each other. The weekend was a little off. I don't think it actually went very well looking back on it. I picked him up from his hotel - he was so nervous! We went over to my sister's house and just hung out - watched football and ate dinner. At the time I was a smoker, and Terry really didn't like that. He didn't like my sister's boyfriend either (neither did I - thieving lying pos). But the next day was better. We spent the whole day together. Drove around Birmingham, went out to eat. and basically just got to know each other better. It was like being on Vent, but in person. I did really like him, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. The next day he left. No kisses, just a few awkward hugs. I cried myself to sleep because I thought he was disappointed in the "real me" after meeting me in person. Once he got back home, we didn't really talk about how we felt about each other for a few days. When he finally brought up the subject I told him that I thought it was best if we were just friends - with the distance and the age difference. (I'm four years older than him.) I wanted him to tell me that those things didn't matter, that we could get through them, but he didn't. So there we were. Best friends in WoW and on vent..again. I was very disappointed.
Over the next few months, things continued on as normal. We raided, spent time together on Vent...but a little less than before. We did still flirt a lot. To the point that I started to wonder if maybe he DID still have feelings for me. So one day, I straight up told him - "I don't think I can be just your friend. I have feelings for you." He did too. Little did I know, he liked me from when we first met, and was devastated when I told him I didn't think it would work out. Now, a bit about Terry: He's Southern. He's Baptist, and he's shy - and had NO experience with women. A bit about me: I'm Southern, I'm a Christian, and I'm shy - with barely any experience with men. Can you imagine how awkward that is??? I can, because I experienced it, lol! We decided to meet again in May 2011. This time we drove halfway and met each other in Tallahassee, Florida. We got separate hotel rooms, he took me out to dinner - and went back to my hotel room to rent a movie. TWO HOURS of awkward tension between us. It was excruciating!!! Finally after the movie he just jumped up and said "Well, Goodnight!", gave me a hug and left. I gave him a few minutes, then I text him and say "What, No kiss goodnight?!" That's when he tells me he's never kissed anyone before. My heart melts! I told him to come back to my room and give me a goodnight kiss. He did, with no shoes on! And I was still smiling when I fell asleep later. Hehe, he was still nervous the next morning. He gave me a hug goodbye as we were leaving. Right before I was going to pull out of the parking lot I jumped out of my car, got in his truck and planted a big kiss on him. That was my goodbye, lol.
Our next meeting was in June 2011. We met halfway again. A few days before we met, he told me he thought he was in love with me. I told him it was harder to say that in person. The day we spent together in June was the turning point in our relationship. We confessed our love for each other and all that gooey, lovey dovey crap that I THOUGHT I was no good at! We laid in the bed for hours just staring into each others eyes, thankful that we finally found each other. It was the most romantic day of my life to that point.
Since then, we've both quit playing World of Warcraft. We've met each others families. I've spent a week there, he's spent a week here. Visited each other multiple weekends. We were officially a long-distance couple. It didn't take long for us to start talking about wanting to spend the rest of our lives together. Both of us were/are very ready to move on to the next stage in our lives.
December 29, 2011. He proposed at the airport. With all the strangers clapping and cheering. It was great, lol.
We are getting married July 21, 2012. That's when we will close the distance forever. I'm thankful to God everyday for bringing this wonderful man into my life - and blessing us with His love and grace. I get to marry my best friend, my soul-mate, my partner in Christ. Life is good. <3
What started out as the story of "Shealyn" and "Vorenus" has turned into the story of Cortney and Terry. It is far from finished - we still have a good fifty years to continue it!
Our story starts almost four years ago - sometime in 2008. After seeing an advertisement online, I downloaded the trial version of World of Warcraft. I liked it - fell in love with the game fairly quickly, but the social aspect of the game made me nervous. I've always been socially awkward and somewhat introverted. So, I was playing along, loving my Rogue, "Amargaree" (random name generator FTW), running around Stormwind at level twenty-something when I got a random whisper from someone named "Vorenus" asking if I would like to join his guild, "Free Masons". I had yet to work up the courage to join a guild, but I said yes.
I was in "Free Masons", leveling and enjoying learning about Azeroth. I didn't have any meaningful contact with Vorenus - we ran a few dungeons together with other guild members, but never chatted on a personal level. He did, however, give me the gold for my first mount during an Uldaman run - so sweet!
Then one day, Vorenus disappeared. I noticed, but didn't really think much about it. Over a few months I played my rogue, but started another character - a priest named "Shealyn" - that would become my main character after I learned more about the game.
Moving on from the "Free Masons", I met other people in the game...started a guild..joined another guild. As I was leveling my beloved Priest, "Shealyn", through Hellfire Peninsula I see "Vorenus" asking for help with a quest in general chat. My heart actually skipped a little beat. I remembered this guy - he was the first person in WoW who was nice to me. I immediately message him and offer my help. He was still in the "Free Masons", and although he didn't remember me from my Rogue - he invited me back to the guild. From this point, the friendship started to blossom a bit. Nothing too significant - we ran dungeons together with a few other friends. I still remember the first time I heard him on voice chat. His voice was so attractive.
Wrath of the Lich King was released (a WoW expansion). This is really where our friendship started to take off. We raided together, talked about personal stuff, just basically became friends - with no romantic inklings. There was a group of about four of us in the guild who did everything together. At this point, "Vorenus" and "Shealyn" were running the guild together. The guild kind of exploded with membership, and took off as a social raiding guild.
The pressure eventually got to us, and we passed the guild on to someone else and left the server along with a few other friends. At this point, We were playing WoW together every night. Started another guild on our new server, picked up a few new people and started a small raiding guild. Everything was still all in the game though, and on Vent. Oh, but we did have one of those "Put a face to a voice" threads on our guild forums. I still remember him whispering me saying, "You're a pretty gal." (aww!)
Sometime around August or September of 2010, one night after work I get on Vent and he asks me to come down to a private channel with him. He proceeds to tell me that "he thinks he needs to quit WoW because he has feelings for me." Well, first my heart PLUMMETS when I hear him say he's going to quit WoW...I'm like NOOOOO...my best friend!!!! Then I hear the "I have feelings for you" part, and I'm all giddy. I try to play it coy, and tell him that I had feelings for him too, but the whole distance thing would probably be an issue. At this point - I really didn't even think that we'd ever meet. I thought it would just blow over or something. Of course that was me trying to set myself up to expect failure - I'm good at that. Oh, and he sent me roses on my birthday in October after that.
I laugh about it now, but at the time I thought it was odd. He internet stalked me..found out my sister's name - contacted her on Facebook and got the address to my office. The First Meeting: December 31, 2010. I live in Birmingham, Alabama. Terry lives right outside Orlando, Florida. He drove from Florida to Birmingham on New Years Eve 2010. This was all still REALLY new for both of us. We weren't a couple, we were just two best friends meeting for the first time who thought they had feelings for each other. The weekend was a little off. I don't think it actually went very well looking back on it. I picked him up from his hotel - he was so nervous! We went over to my sister's house and just hung out - watched football and ate dinner. At the time I was a smoker, and Terry really didn't like that. He didn't like my sister's boyfriend either (neither did I - thieving lying pos). But the next day was better. We spent the whole day together. Drove around Birmingham, went out to eat. and basically just got to know each other better. It was like being on Vent, but in person. I did really like him, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. The next day he left. No kisses, just a few awkward hugs. I cried myself to sleep because I thought he was disappointed in the "real me" after meeting me in person. Once he got back home, we didn't really talk about how we felt about each other for a few days. When he finally brought up the subject I told him that I thought it was best if we were just friends - with the distance and the age difference. (I'm four years older than him.) I wanted him to tell me that those things didn't matter, that we could get through them, but he didn't. So there we were. Best friends in WoW and on vent..again. I was very disappointed.
Over the next few months, things continued on as normal. We raided, spent time together on Vent...but a little less than before. We did still flirt a lot. To the point that I started to wonder if maybe he DID still have feelings for me. So one day, I straight up told him - "I don't think I can be just your friend. I have feelings for you." He did too.
Little did I know, he liked me from when we first met, and was devastated when I told him I didn't think it would work out. Now, a bit about Terry: He's Southern. He's Baptist, and he's shy - and had NO experience with women. A bit about me: I'm Southern, I'm a Christian, and I'm shy - with barely any experience with men. Can you imagine how awkward that is??? I can, because I experienced it, lol! We decided to meet again in May 2011. This time we drove halfway and met each other in Tallahassee, Florida. We got separate hotel rooms, he took me out to dinner - and went back to my hotel room to rent a movie. TWO HOURS of awkward tension between us. It was excruciating!!! Finally after the movie he just jumped up and said "Well, Goodnight!", gave me a hug and left. I gave him a few minutes, then I text him and say "What, No kiss goodnight?!" That's when he tells me he's never kissed anyone before. My heart melts! I told him to come back to my room and give me a goodnight kiss. He did, with no shoes on! And I was still smiling when I fell asleep later. Hehe, he was still nervous the next morning. He gave me a hug goodbye as we were leaving. Right before I was going to pull out of the parking lot I jumped out of my car, got in his truck and planted a big kiss on him. That was my goodbye, lol.Our next meeting was in June 2011. We met halfway again. A few days before we met, he told me he thought he was in love with me. I told him it was harder to say that in person. The day we spent together in June was the turning point in our relationship. We confessed our love for each other and all that gooey, lovey dovey crap that I THOUGHT I was no good at! We laid in the bed for hours just staring into each others eyes, thankful that we finally found each other. It was the most romantic day of my life to that point.
Since then, we've both quit playing World of Warcraft. We've met each others families. I've spent a week there, he's spent a week here. Visited each other multiple weekends. We were officially a long-distance couple. It didn't take long for us to start talking about wanting to spend the rest of our lives together. Both of us were/are very ready to move on to the next stage in our lives.
December 29, 2011. He proposed at the airport. With all the strangers clapping and cheering. It was great, lol.
We are getting married July 21, 2012. That's when we will close the distance forever. I'm thankful to God everyday for bringing this wonderful man into my life - and blessing us with His love and grace. I get to marry my best friend, my soul-mate, my partner in Christ. Life is good. <3
What started out as the story of "Shealyn" and "Vorenus" has turned into the story of Cortney and Terry. It is far from finished - we still have a good fifty years to continue it!
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