hi - this has been a very interesting thread so far - tons of great comments and insights!

of course i had to chime in, lol. here's my comment on internet relationships.....

my 5 year relationship (that included marriage and immigration to another country on my part) ended during christmas 08. in desperation i joined my first ever online forum, for support. (not this forum) and i did find much support, many friends. some have come and gone - others turned out to be extremely unstable, lol. six people have become real life friends - we have exchanged pictures, telephone numbers, and i plan to meet all of them, at some point, despite our varying cities/states/countries. my 7th real life friend, well, i met him there too, and we fell in love

he had been there and his past had been resolved earlier and he stayed to support others. i was in the middle of my nightmare and he was a friend who even more than the others, helped me not only survive it, but to become stronger and start living again, instead of just breathing and enduring.

we both knew we were in love, at nearly the same time, we didn't plan on it happening, and we both continued to befriend and support the other - before we ended up making an almost simultaneous confession - there was no ambivalance from either of us. i have trust issues because of my prior experience, but he has been very patient and continues to be so.
within a few short days of our opening up about being in love, we saw each others pictures for the first time - not sure if we'd have been attracted if we did pics first - and i am saying that only because love DOES affect how we SEE someone. he and i loved first, 'saw', after. the attraction only grew from that point, and in just days we then ''graduated'' to telephone conversations.

we have used messenger chats, Skype talks, and he bought a phone plan that allows him to call me in the U.S. from his home in the U.K., for a very cheap amount a month, a few dollars - - - and we have unlimited calls. we are on a schedule to talk in order to have daily chats despite our six hour time difference, and we email daily, several times and we text as well.

in may we had our first REAL LIFE meeting, a week at his place. and it was real - we just wanted to make sure! it was as real as if we had been dating for months in real life, there was no difference. but keep in mind we have chatted and talked on the phone hours and hours and we have exchanged many many hundreds of letters. he is my best friend in the world - that is the foundation of our relationship. distance separates us for now - but i've never felt closer to anyone. he just returned to the U.K. from my place, we have just spent two wonderful weeks together. i just hung up from him, he has just walked in the door at his place, checking to see if all is still there, lol.

our plans are to struggle through the rigors of immigration red tape, so that we can be together.

we did MEET on the internet - but we both wanted to move beyond net communications, into real life. we had to do that by phone, at first. but as soon as we could manage it, we scheduled a real-life visit. we both felt it important to take our relationship OFF the net. sure, we daily use internet to keep in touch. but, our daily phone calls and texts are very important (texts are still very personal instant ways of exchanging thoughts. txt messages help us keep in constant touch even when one of us is working, and can't speak, etc.) but we KNOW we must do whatever is possible to continue to arrange FACE TIME together.

this is possible even if there are time/distance/financial restraints. both people can save towards one ticket for example. nothing is impossible.

sometimes love that we find when we are not expecting it - becomes the sweetest and most precious.
from a song . . . ""call out to love - it will answer you""

best wishes