Let me tell you about…

…my Nitzer.  An internet romance of the best kind.  

 

No, not Nitzer Ebb, who I was briefly into back in the 80s, along with other randomly strange sounding bands back then (Lords of the New Church, anyone?) in my quest to experience every music genre invented.  

This is about Nitzer of Canadaland.

We met on livejournal.  Yes, that place that was once the in place to be for maximum internet narcissism and soul baring.   I was Russia’s first webcam girl (not THAT kind of webcam girl, you guys!  There once was a time when webcam people were minor celebrities who kept their clothes ON and lived their lives online on 33.3K dialups so that people could be reassured that yes, they were not the only people who brushed their teeth with their eyes closed and often spent hours just staring at nothing), and found virtual reality much better than real life.  I chatted with people from all over the globe, even fell in love online.  I met my Nitzer in a livejournal community and we went from posting comments to friending each other’s journals to PM’ing each other.  Rarely did a week go by where we weren’t catching each other up on our trials and tribulations of life.  Through the mess of wires called cyberspace, we saw each other through the ups and downs of relationships, questionable choices, highs and lows (sometimes literal ones), breakups, breakouts, breaking laws, breaking goal weights, breaking hearts, and probably breaking a few records for longest chats ever.  I don’t even know why I call her Nitzer.  Probably because everyone else calls her Niter.  She patiently tolerated my craziness and continent hopping, and when a horrible man made her cry, I made an interpretive dance video for her in my hotel room in Dubai wearing a burka, stockings and suspenders.  No, you can’t see it.   We’ve shared so so so much in the more than 10 years we’ve known each other.  

 

And we had never actually met in person until about 3 years ago.  

 

When we did finally meet, she was about 500 months pregnant, it was summer in Toronto and a bajillion degrees.  The lift in her building was out and of course she lived on the top floor.  She met me in the hallway shaking her very pregnant ass and we cried.  We went into her apartment and spent the next few hours laughing SO hard that I was sure my face would crack.  Her husband, who I’d known every detail about before they even hooked up,  eventually came home and asked when was the last time we’d seen each other.  That resulted in even more laughter and his astonished look when we admitted that it was the first time we’d ever met in person after about a decade online.   

That, my friends, is true love.  

 

I now go to Toronto at least twice a year because I’ve got an affiliate showroom there.  This is probably not by accident that I chose Toronto for it.  Well, her and Cora’s.  

 

My Nitzer is also drop dead gorgeous, an amazon (no really, she’s over 6 feet tall!), and the most positive person in the world.  She always says her life is the best life, but the fact that she’s in my life makes MY life pretty damn amazing.   I’ve just now caught up on reading blogs, and her documentation of the new baby’s birth had reduced me to sobs because I was just there at the end of the pregnancy and she’s my hero.  No lie.  And I love her so much and am just so blessed to have amazing women like her as travel companions in this crazy journey I call a life.

 

So my love letter today is not to myself, but to my Nitzer.  

Dear Nitzer,

 There’s a million and 2 memories that I could list that are reasons why I cherish every day you’re in my life, but right now, it’s the memory of when I was sitting in Osaka earlier this year and you sent a text saying ‘guess what?’, and I replied ‘you’re pregnant’.  After 10+ years, the fact that two people who are many many miles apart could know each other that well is truly the greatest love story ever.  And I love you so much.

Love,

Cyka