Going Public: The reality

[Scouse]

I had a few 'did you bring her over?' questions. They were more embarassed when I told them we met in my local pub.

Anyway the internet is just another way of meeting someone, no worse or better than in work or in a bar or nightclub.

[somebody]

I had a few 'did you bring her over?' questions. They were more embarassed when I told them we met in my local pub.

Anyway the internet is just another way of meeting someone, no worse or better than in work or in a bar or nightclub.

Im surprised how many people reveal to me, well i met my Wife/partner on the Internet or via classifieds (newspapers or magazines) even many of the broadsheets. Often many of these to the group (office, pub or social circle) imply they met by chance as in person

[Englishman2010]

I'm a bit late spotting this thread Northerner, but belated congrats for coming out
Personally, I don't really care what others think, I told most of my family, my friends and colleagues within a few weeks of meeting my love. I even told my wife about her mainly to get her to hurry up with our divorce, although that doesn't seem to have happened yet
Sure most people looked at me as if to say 'what are you doing, you are going to get ripped off, she probably already has a husband or a boyfriend, she's only after your money or a British passport...', you know all the usual rubbish people say to all of us on here. A few people have been braver and said it to my face, and I've heard some of the behind my back comments, including those from my wife.
Like some of the others have said, we will prove them all wrong. 5 months to the day after we first met in Singapore, our relationship is still strong. Anything from an hour to 3 hours a day for 5 months on Skype, Yahoo, Google, Facebook..etc, plus 11 days with her in January and 18 more to come in April tell me that our love is genuine, and whilst i don't doubt she sees me as security, she wouldn't continue if she didn't love me first and foremost. I can also guarantee that she will cost me a lot less than my wife has, and so what? I can't take it with me when I'm gone, and after 15 years of unhappiness I am going to be happy for the rest of my life, and screw anyone whoo doesn't support me or wants to see me fall on my face

[HopeUK]

Aposhark.. thanks for the kind words there! As we get nearer to April it is all beginning to fall into place. I have to say the experience has so far felt very 'virtual' but as you say, when you get together with someone and spend real time with each other, that is the 'magic' time! Unlike the other aspects of organising a holiday, the 'shopping list' can't prepare you for how the first meeting with your love is going to feel. I think I mentioned elsewhere the feeling another person expressed on another forum when he got together with his Malaysian girlfriend after a year of chatting. He said it was the strangest feeling to meet with someone who was both a physical stranger and yet at the same time an emotional partner. I get the feeling I'm going to have similar goosebumps..

Forums are usually places for hotly-contested debate, but I think I've found the first one where through all the up's and down's, pretty much everybody considers themselves the luckiest person who ever lived!

Englishman2010 - Worry not about all the naysayers eh!? We all seem to have these stresses to contend with. I suppose there will always be some measure of security from a Filipina's point of view - if the roles were reversed for the 'doubters', that would change from a 'negative' to a 'positive point of empathy' VERY QUICKLY I think! Although the west is not the haven of 'eternal utopian bliss' it may be painted as, I'm sure life is generally more calm and less extreme than many countries - we do seem to enjoy a more modest display of 'daily life' even when it's doing it's worst. There's perhaps still the interracial element too that some individuals can't get around.. the one constant spear of the masses, many of whom likey haven't tried reaching beyond their own social circle (pushed and pulled by social engineering?? oops, might have another controvertial thread there..? ).

I see it like this. As Aposhark says, Life is NOT a rehearsal. There are many things we can manage perfectly well without - love ISN'T one of them. When covering the matter of my travelling halfway around the world for a 'possibility', I recall telling my mahal that love should never be passed up lightly. For me, I believe you should keep the woman you love in your heart, live and laugh in every moment, try to show her every day how much you love her - kiss and cuddle her, make her feel every bit as special as she really is (ladies, coming from an honourable man believe me when I say that try as 'we' might, if as men we are truly in love we will never manage this to our satisfaction, ever) and keep doing so, until the curtain falls..

How good a life is that!?

Peace!