Pat & Hugo's Love Story

Once upon a time (December 1997), a man named Hugo was at work in his office in the Mathematics department of Cambridge University, when he received a short e-mail message from a Canadian girl. She told him that she had enjoyed reading his profile on the "Christian Connection", and that if he was at all interested after reading hers, he could write back. Ten months later, they were married.

Hugo had heard about the website from a friend named Martin, who had met several very nice Christian ladies through the internet, and had actually visited one of them in New York. On this recommendation, Hugo decided to give it a go. To get a ten day free trial, he had to fill in both a multiple-choice and an essay questionaire. These dealt with some of the basics, like hair colour, personality, hobbies, as well as more spiritual questions such as life goals, and the place God had in one's life. Hugo edited his profile a number of times, wanting to get it just right. After he had filed the profile, he was allowed to run searches for those with similar interests, lifestyles, aspirations, etc., and he met a number of interesting women.

In case you're wondering about that Canadian girl, her name was Patricia, and she just happened to choose the same website out of a random search for Christian chat lines. Out of about 50,000 sites, she picked the first one that looked easy to use and filled out her profile for her free trial. She wasn't really looking to MEET SOMEONE, just to get to know different people from around the world.

Patricia soon began receiving letters from places like Tahiti, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, the United States and Canada, and got to know some very nice people. One day, she decided that as she hadn't heard from anyone in the UK, she would try to get to know someone from England or Scotland. About a dozen names came up in her search, and she wrote to about three of them. Two never replied, but one, a certain Hugo Moule, wrote back immediately. They corresponded for a short while, but then only sporadically, as Patricia did not always have access to the internet.

What made their friendship really take off was their first telephone call. Hugo discovered a phone card that allowed him to call for £5 or $12 cdn. That phone call lasted two hours, and anyone who is familiar with Patricia's phone habits will appreciate just what an unusual occurance that was! Those phone calls became more and more frequent. Hugo started to call once a fortnight, then once a week. Patricia then started phoning him on Sundays. There were even weeks when they talked to each other three times!

It was soon obvious to each of them that they should meet in person. Hugo's work at the university was coming to an end, and Patricia had a six week holiday beginning in July, when school closed down for the summer. They decided that Hugo would fly to North America at the end of June, and he spent the intervening time preparing his flat for letting, and doing some temporary work.

Hugo flew to Minneapolis on June 25, planning to stay with friends, for a few days until Patricia could drive down to pick him up. Unfortunately, he landed without his luggage, but he had wisely taken certain precautions with one very special item. Unbeknownst to Patricia, Hugo was arriving with an engagement ring, not in hand, but rather on foot! To prevent his losing it, he wore the ring on one of his toes, and covered it with a bandage. The rest of the luggage did eventually arrive as well.

When the big day finally arrived, Patricia was scheduled to drive down to St. Cloud, Minnesota, to pick Hugo up from where he was staying with friends. She left work on a Friday afternoon, hoping to be able to see Hugo for the first time late that night. That wasn't to be. Prairie weather, unpredictable at the best of times, thwarted their plans. Storm warnings turned into funnel clouds, which progressed into thunderstorms, driving rain, dangerous winds, and other such nasty phenomena. Patricia was forced to spend the night in a motel, waiting until the storms had subsided. Hugo slept through the entire drama as he was still getting over jet lag.

The next day dawned bright and clear. Patricia arrived in St. Cloud shortly after breakfast, and Hugo was there waiting to greet her. The first words out of his mouth however, were not quite as expected. "I'm afraid you've got competition", he confessed. Patricia's countenance fell, as she had felt quite confident that she was currently the only lady in his life. A twinkle came into his eyes then, and he revealed that the "competition" was merely his hostess's two daughters, ages 2 and 4, who had been quite taken with him. Patricia then remembered that she had told Hugo that he would need to make a joke when they met, as she would probably be nervous. It worked, and after a short period of adjusting to actually being with each other, they had a wonderful weekend together.

The rest is history. Hugo came back with Patricia to Kleefeld, Manitoba and met her friends and relatives. Their love grew stronger every day, and on October 10th 1998 they were married in the village church, only ten months after their initial contact, and only three and a half months after they had met in person!

 

October 10, 1998