Cyberconnection

There’s danger in making online friends.
You might meet someone you know.
You might meet someone who you know very well.
And you might love that person; at least what you’ve shared in cyberspace.

And that person might love you.
At least love what you’ve shared in cyberspace, sans age and all the other ‘reality’ baggage.

I am not talking about dating sites or ‘Facebook’ types where the point is to meet people you can fall in love with. I am talking about participating in an online forum about something. Whether politics, or music or in my case, scifi.

A Message Board of many threads, lots of ideas, lots of arguments.

I had used the nickname of ‘Andromeda’ because I’d really enjoyed the first three seasons.
He used the nickname ‘Worf’ because that was his favourite character.

We often agreed on esoteric points, and over time started to PM when Trolls and other insane types posted. We had deep conversations about the duties of a moderator and what did and did not constitute valid posts.

We belonged to other M.B.s and shared them, so that he popped up on Exisles and I joined Everything Trek, and we’d double team anyone who got too insulting.

I had one of those jobs in which the boss wanted to micro manage. I would draft a document, he’d want to read it on the computer to save money. Let me be more specific, he needed to read it on my computer.

I would arrive at work, he’d be in his office. I’d get on the 'Net to put me into a decent frame of mind as I brought up a document I’d drafted the day before. I'd be happily posting on sites, answering email, playing games, and at some point the boss would need to sit beside me and go over the document word by word making changes.

Then he’d tell me to 'print it’.

I’d print the document, it would sit somewhere, while I did another document.

As usual, Nitpicker would return with the first document demanding changes. I’d make the changes. I’d print the document again.

Then he’d start on the next document, but after a few minutes have something else to do and go away.

As soon as he left, I’d get back on the 'Net.

Some days Boss’d be too busy to get back to me, so I’d stay on the 'Net talking to Worf most of the day then go home to my husband and kids and Jerry.

Jerry was my husband’s nephew. He’d come to stay with us when his folks were going through an ugly divorce and never left. We never wanted him to leave. He was a junior in college now, and though we told him his folks had created a ‘fund’ it was Dave and I who paid for Jerry’s education.

Which is why I had to keep working for the most annoying Boss on Earth.

If it wasn't for the Internet, for my friendship with Worf, I couldn't have worked for that man more than three days.

Over the months, Worf became my virtual best friend; the best friend of Andromeda who was ten years younger than I and unmarried.

I never mix real life with cyberspace. I always invent an avatar replete with her own email address. I never use my own photograph or anything to connect that avatar to this woman who is sitting at this computer waiting for Annoying Boss to crawl out of his office.

As far as Worf knew I lived in ‘the country' and had twenty dogs and spent my days writing articles for online publications. What I knew of Worf was that he lived in the ‘city' and did research for some major corporation.

Hence both of us had cogent reasons why we were online during the working day.

We began to share bits of ourselves which happened outside of the MB; I was always careful to ‘rephrase’.

If I had an argument with my husband and was proven right, I would turn that into an argument with a neighbour. If one of my kids did something particularly stupid which was funny I would cast that into a niece or nephew.

Worf told me how his nephew, to prove that ‘student government’ was joke, ran on the Bozo ticket and was elected.

I physically jerked from the monitor.
My son had done that.
My son had dressed up as Bozo and ran on the Bozo ticket and was elected.

I typed lol then brb and went to the ladies room.

Worf was Jerry. .

For months I had been deep in a cyber relationship with a person who was almost a son to me.

I went over our past conversations feeling almost guilty of incest.
Yet....

I had shared opinions, ideas, futuristic fantasies, not the boring bits of work/cooking/ shopping.

He had created worlds and possibilities I dreamed of.

The only thing that made my job survivable was knowing that when I logged on that Worf would be there with jokes and cheer. I went to work knowing that during the hideous eight hours I had chances to escape the office with Worf.

Knowing the true identity of Worf could not change Andromeda.
Only make me more aware what was missing from that corner of my life where 'Love’ resided.