The first step on this journey of a thousand miles was taken by my first encounter with Kayla. It started as a silly pair-up thread on an internet forum. I no longer even recall why I did it. Nevertheless, I was joined with her, and we communicated through the forum's internal private messaging system. Unfortunately, as time went on, my attention span kicked in (or rather, turned off), and I grew inactive. My idleness prompted the forum to delete my account in a standard act of saving bandwidth. This went without effect, as Kayla took the initiative to e-mail me, and our conversation continued there, and eventually instant messaging. She was a major part of my life, us trading advice, philosophy, and encouragement. Our relationship worked as a pendulum, us never liking each other romantically at the same time, the container of the adoration changing as it swung to-and-fro. But, one thing remained constant, and that was my longing to meet her in person.

At first she was against the thought. Fears of her parents' reaction and insecurities about her own appearance caused her to reject me every time it was brought up. But, one summer, through glorious amounts of begging, I convinced her to allow it. I am no fool: I realize the dangers of meeting people online, but the longevity of our acquaintance and the known impossibility of a predator to remain stagnant for that time proved her innocence, and worked as argument to coax my mother to assist me. And so it was set: I met with her and we had a ball. Her parents graciously let me come over at sunrise, we would play games at her house till midday came, and then she would show me of her life. We visited points of interest around town, such as the mall and park, and some days simply lazed around inside until nightfall, at which we would do standard "date" stuff. We went to the movies, I took her to a restaurant, and we shared our families. I introduced her to my brother and mom, and I stayed the evening to have dinner with her folks. Most of all, we enjoyed each other's presence. And thus a week passed in an instant, I gave her a goodbye-gift, and we were forced to part.

I returned home, and life went on as usual, but I was always thinking about the wonderful time I had. Every day I anxiously anticipated the arrival of approaching holidays. I would visit her every chance I got, even if I had just enough time to stay for a day. These excursions became tradition. Soon even my brother started looking forward to them, and I would occasionally get friends to accompany me. As my trips became more common she started to travel to me, and we even went together to neutral vacation spots. I now await the day when these encounters become less complicated. A day when I will be able to walk less than a few meters to be with her. A day when we can live together, not being inhibited by spatial and temporal restrictions. While I am a dissenter of marriage, my ideal setup would be one where we may be neighbors and still enjoy the bonuses of union without the penalties of co-boarding. I will work for that day, to make it possible, and to make it as wonderful as imagined.

This story may sound too good to be true, as fantastic as a tale of fairies. You may dismiss it as the hopeful delusions of a spoony bard. In that notion, you would be correct. None of this has actually happened. At least, not yet. Kayla is still opposed, and I'm not sure of my ability to sway her. I keep my hopes high in spite of that, and see this summer as a nuclear-test-site of opportunity. While it may not happen (knock on wood) until as she planned, simple logic dictates it will happen at some point. While it may not happen as described here, simple emotion dictates it will be better. While I wait, I have my reverie, and, now, so do you.