For 6 years now I have been truly devoted, passionate, and obsessed with the story of Phantom of the Opera and this was never hidden. Not just the 2004 film, or the musical for that matter. It was the musical that got me obsessed, yes, and it is still one of my favorite forms of it, but all kinds really. In 2010 I discovered an Internet Reviewer on Youtube who's mission it was to review every single Phantom film he could get his hands on (Believe me, there's a TON. More than anyone thought was possible) After recieving a surprising number of followers he created his own forum, and me and my soon to be love were one of the first ones to join.
After several weeks of using this tiny little crappy chatbox on the site, me and several of the other regulars on the site decided to get Skype and start chatting with each other. After this happened we spent that entire summer just getting to know each other. At the time, our regular chats consisted of around 8 people, all from different areas of the world. It wasn't long til we became the best friends, truly devoted to each other even though none of us ever met in person, all united because of our obsessions with Phantom of the Opera.
While this was going on my father had been diagnosed with cancer the same month - in fact the same week of my graduation. Instead of worrying about future plans and saying goodbye to my high school life, I was concerned for my dad, dealing with worries an 18 year old girl entering the next chapter of her life should never have to worry about. With nearly all my friends going off to college soon or moving I invested in this new friends, while holding onto Phantom as a security blanket of sorts. As you can imagine this affected me physically, emotionally, and most of all psychologically. I developed an anxiety disorder from all the stress.
With mom gone often to take my father to a hospital some ten hour drive away (It was a special hospital for cancer) Often times, sometimes for three weeks at a time, my brother and I lived in and managed the house ourselves. I was out of school, I couldn't get a job and everything was just so crazy I turned to my Phantom friends. Eventually sometimes that one man was the only one on and then soon we got into these incredibly long talks, and besides Phantom we both realized we were into musicals and just music itself, particularly 80s. We could talk for hours about music. I started realizing I had feelings for him and to be honest I hated it because I did not want to get involved in something so complicated. I talked to my mother about, and as I am a Christian woman, I prayed about it. I fought it so hard, but eventually I decided I could at least try. After discovering my feelings were returned on September 19th, we became a couple, however we really we were taking it slow. It was more just like best friends at this point.
By October things were not looking well for my father. After so many tears shed, my boyfriend told the story about how his Dad had died about a year ago or so and how he was still dealing with the pain so he knew what I was going through. I think that was the point our relationship advanced because we started talking about really deep things and finding out how much our lives really had in common. This was when I first knew I loved him, and often he stayed up all night for me. See he lives in England and there's a 6 hour difference between us, as I live in the American midwest, so on nights I couldn't sleep he would stay with me til I fell asleep.
In November we did lose Dad. Without my Dominic, I do not know how I would have survived. I was struggling in college because I was so distracted and it was only by the grace of teachers I passed at all. Three months after that my uncle died, and then three months after that my favorite teacher ever, who inspired me to write and become a teacher myself died. Needless to say I was a wreck. I eventually went on antidepressants to treat my anxiety, but through everything Dom was there to guide me through it.
We are both incredibly poor people so seeing each other is difficult. However, I went on a study abroad program to England this past January and just returned a couple of weeks ago. Nearly every weekend I saw him, but the biggest surprise was our first weekend together. Not just see other for the first time, but as we watched the 25th Anniversary DVD of Phantom of the Opera, as "All I Ask of You" played, he proposed. We are getting married in November 2014. Since then, every weekend we either lounged at home or went off and did something amazing. One of those things was seeing Phantom of the Opera with one of our favorite Phantoms and our favorite Raoul.
We've been together over a year and a half now and he is my rock. He has been there to hold me up when I wanted to fall down and he guided me through it all. Sometimes I didn't think I could do it, sometimes I was afraid, but he never left me. Love can span all distances.
After several weeks of using this tiny little crappy chatbox on the site, me and several of the other regulars on the site decided to get Skype and start chatting with each other. After this happened we spent that entire summer just getting to know each other. At the time, our regular chats consisted of around 8 people, all from different areas of the world. It wasn't long til we became the best friends, truly devoted to each other even though none of us ever met in person, all united because of our obsessions with Phantom of the Opera.
While this was going on my father had been diagnosed with cancer the same month - in fact the same week of my graduation. Instead of worrying about future plans and saying goodbye to my high school life, I was concerned for my dad, dealing with worries an 18 year old girl entering the next chapter of her life should never have to worry about. With nearly all my friends going off to college soon or moving I invested in this new friends, while holding onto Phantom as a security blanket of sorts. As you can imagine this affected me physically, emotionally, and most of all psychologically. I developed an anxiety disorder from all the stress.
With mom gone often to take my father to a hospital some ten hour drive away (It was a special hospital for cancer) Often times, sometimes for three weeks at a time, my brother and I lived in and managed the house ourselves. I was out of school, I couldn't get a job and everything was just so crazy I turned to my Phantom friends. Eventually sometimes that one man was the only one on and then soon we got into these incredibly long talks, and besides Phantom we both realized we were into musicals and just music itself, particularly 80s. We could talk for hours about music. I started realizing I had feelings for him and to be honest I hated it because I did not want to get involved in something so complicated. I talked to my mother about, and as I am a Christian woman, I prayed about it. I fought it so hard, but eventually I decided I could at least try. After discovering my feelings were returned on September 19th, we became a couple, however we really we were taking it slow. It was more just like best friends at this point.
By October things were not looking well for my father. After so many tears shed, my boyfriend told the story about how his Dad had died about a year ago or so and how he was still dealing with the pain so he knew what I was going through. I think that was the point our relationship advanced because we started talking about really deep things and finding out how much our lives really had in common. This was when I first knew I loved him, and often he stayed up all night for me. See he lives in England and there's a 6 hour difference between us, as I live in the American midwest, so on nights I couldn't sleep he would stay with me til I fell asleep.
In November we did lose Dad. Without my Dominic, I do not know how I would have survived. I was struggling in college because I was so distracted and it was only by the grace of teachers I passed at all. Three months after that my uncle died, and then three months after that my favorite teacher ever, who inspired me to write and become a teacher myself died. Needless to say I was a wreck. I eventually went on antidepressants to treat my anxiety, but through everything Dom was there to guide me through it.
We are both incredibly poor people so seeing each other is difficult. However, I went on a study abroad program to England this past January and just returned a couple of weeks ago. Nearly every weekend I saw him, but the biggest surprise was our first weekend together. Not just see other for the first time, but as we watched the 25th Anniversary DVD of Phantom of the Opera, as "All I Ask of You" played, he proposed. We are getting married in November 2014. Since then, every weekend we either lounged at home or went off and did something amazing. One of those things was seeing Phantom of the Opera with one of our favorite Phantoms and our favorite Raoul.
We've been together over a year and a half now and he is my rock. He has been there to hold me up when I wanted to fall down and he guided me through it all. Sometimes I didn't think I could do it, sometimes I was afraid, but he never left me. Love can span all distances.
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