In November of 2001, I (Julie, that's me) was on the Internet in an AOL chat room for psychics. I was there because I was interested in what they had to say. I had some random questions to ask, nothing serious because I didn't trust that they were for real but no one was there! I stuck around because a nice lady was there and we chatted a bit. A fellow came in by the name of 'Nonad the Cat'. He was friendly enough and joined our chat as we waited for our psychics to arrive. From then on, we talked as often as we caught each other online.

In January of 2002, Aaron called me for the first time but it wasn't for a friendly chat! Someone had used his email name to send out a virus and he was calling to warn me! Luckily, I hadn't opened my email that day. His next phone call didn't occur until September 2003 but after that, he called once or twice a week. Nothing special, just chatting about everyday life.

It was December of 2003 and Aaron drove down from New York to North Carolina for a friendly visit. We toured my hometown, went to a local civil war battlefield, I bored him with family photos and just had a general good time.

I didn't see him again until January of 2005 but our phones calls to each other began to become more and more frequent until we were calling each other almost ever day by the end of 2004. During this time, we began to sort out the feelings we were having. I can honestly say that he felt it first. He mentioned it to me over the phone and I was speechless. He didn't press me and really didn't mention it again. I just woke up one spring morning with the sudden knowledge that I was in love.

Back to January 2005... Aaron's second visit. We visited the battlefield again, he helped me vaccinate my cats and we spent a lot of time taking baths at truck stops because the water heater at home broke... and we went to the beach. And the beach was where we first cuddled. And when we got home, it advanced enough that we talked about a life together. I would never hold him to anything but after he went back home, we kept calling each other and, one night shortly after the visit, over the phone, he asked me to marry him. I said, "Okay."

We went over a few times when to have it, where to have it and how big to have it. We settled on here in North Carolina on Monday, April 11, 2005 at the courthouse with my sister, mother and niece present. I wore a pretty multicolored gown and Aaron wore a nice new shirt. Sweet and simple.

We didn't stay together for long after the honeymoon because Aaron had so much to do up in New York. So for the next few months, he split his time between NY and NC because I was now in college (and I am too attached to my roots to go far). In six months of marriage, we spent 79 days out of 173 days together. But after that, the time apart became less but regardless of where I was or where he was, we were together in our hearts.

In 2006, I graduated from college and started working again. In January 2007, we bought our home and, since he was with me most of the time now, we moved out of my mom's house in May after finishing the renovations on our house. Aaron was job searching for quite a bit before striking luck in early 2008. The following year was spent working hard, paying bills and saving up money to build our family. Just normal stuff made amazing by the companionship that continues to grow between us as husband and wife, friends and lovers.

We began trying to concieve on April 19 and, even though he was gone for most of June, we managed to concieve July 19th, only 3 months of fun effort! Our baby was due first on April 15, 2010 but the date was moved up 5 days to April 10, 2010 due to his size. I am happily, healtily pregnant and we are both excited about our new addition!

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Well, that's part of the tale. I don't know if it's romantic but it certainly is love.