I am a writer, graphic designer, and ranked by Google,MSN and Yahoo America's Favorite Love columnist I am engaged to Rick London a writer, cartoonist and brand designer, together, we own the seo and branding firm Pen And Ink Inc.
Would I have joined Twitter had I been warned it might occasionally be akin to a “cyber office water cooler” or worse high school with adults? The short answer would have been, “no, No, NO”! Followed up by, “Are you crazy? I work at home to avoid those situations”. I am however extremely thankful I did not receive this warning until long after I had become part of the social networking phenomenon called Twitter. The heartfelt truth is that I would have missed out on events and people that would change my life forever.
Why did I sign up for a Twitter account? Our local TV station’s current events show used it to promote audience interaction. After months of watching and dying to respond I finally gave in and opened a Twitter account (@thehillers) so I could participate. Day one I sat staring mesmerized as all the data rapidly passed with every update. Each of the 140 character tweets containing personal messages, links to blogs, photos, products, and news left me wanting more. It was a buffet of delicious information delivered in rapid tasty bite size morsels.
There was a daily excitement watching as the effect of each tweet I sent out with a closing of “Hugs & Love” resulted in an increase of my follower numbers. It became a ritual to click on tweets of people I thought were interesting and follow them in the hopes of being followed back. Soon I had 100, 200, 300 followers. At 500 I realized to keep from missing favorite tweets I would need Tweetdeck. Suddenly I had multiple columns of tweets streaming in front of me and like a director choosing characters for a film I sorted those I was following into manageable groups.
Was Twitter becoming a necessary part of my daily routine? “Oh Yes, I needed to meet more people so I could discuss humor, poetry, animal rights, humanitarian causes and patriotism”. Soon I was chatting daily with a variety of interesting people who were witty, loving and engaging. This amazing group of individuals began to feel more like a family and I looked forward to learning more about them.
An important moment can be missed in the blink of an eye online, especially in the accelerated 
micro-blogging world of Twitter. If I had blinked I would have missed a wildly funny infidelity cartoon posted by Rick London (@ricklondon). The illustration depicted a cockroach discovering a matchbook from the Roach Motel in her husband’s jacket. I knew he would have to be my next follow. Rick as it turned out was a master of the humorous Tweet and I looked forward to our daily exchange of puns & double entendres. From sushi to pens and Ink every night we tried to raise the level of repartee.
A single DM (direct message) sent by Rick asking me to retweet something would set in motion an incredible series of events. I clicked on the DM (direct message) to respond when I noticed his Twitter background was a “horrible gray”. Rick’s cartoons were fantastic and colorful so I included an offer to create a new background for him in my DM reply. He told me he had no idea which cartoons to use so I created a collage of my favorites from his website. When I contacted him 2 hours later Rick seemed surprised that I had actually followed through with my offer. The email to send the background led to phone calls as he was unable to upload it to Twitter. We spoke twice that day for an hour in an effort to ensure the layout was perfect.
I was perplexed next morning when an email arrived asking if he could call me immediately. That phone call lasted 3 hours and each day after that we spoke longer and later like old friends trying to catch up on each other’s lives. Our friendship grew daily while we were exchanging favorite poetry, telling jokes, writing and working on a plan for our new SEO article marketing business idea (Pen and Ink Inc.). One night while Rick was showing me how to publish an article we realized our friendship had blossomed into love. Not more than three weeks later PenAndInkInc.com was born. In cyberspace, “this thing called twitter”, we had built a foundation for love and a new business in which we have already gained clients; most of whom have come to us on Twitter.
Rick was already working on a grass roots campaign with his sister Kathy Ireland “Citizens For Dame Elizabeth Taylor For The Presidential Medal Of Freedom”. At the early stages, I was asked to join the Twitter campaign which filled the White House mailbox with Emails sent from (most likely) tens of thousands of fellow Twitterers within our networks and other networks connected to ours. Stories of it appeared worldwide from MSNBC to my article in the Herald de Paris (@Heralddeparis), both of whom use Twitter regularly.
Several weeks later we decide it was not good to hide our love for each other. Rick & I agreed it was time to bring our love out into the open on twitter so it would no longer be a secret we kept from our friends. Our love notes in open tweets felt so wonderful and filled my heart with joy each day. (These are verbatim actual tweets from Twitter) @ricklondon Waking up to your voice & hearing your love for me in your wit warmth & wisdom makes my soul sing I Love You, Your Lee xx00xx. @thehillers I can look at a sky full of shining stars and then your face, and in your face I see the whole universe. Love Your Rick @thehillers <---- There is beautiful & there is lovely. And then there is Lee = exquisite. @ricklondon Love is trembling happiness. ~ Kahlil Gibran - I Love You, Your Lee xx00xx. @thehillers Kahlil is singing 2 us baby. I love you. Ikea'nt wait 2 cu.
How could love provoke hostile behavior in others? At fifty-one the thought of going back to high school was not a thrilling construct. On Twitter it was worse as its adults that are playing the games of gossip and innuendo. Although 99.9% of close friends and acquaintances on Twitter were extremely happy for us the other 1% left me feeling betrayed with their vile words and deeds.
The detractors had a wide range of concerns about our relationship it was bad for us, bad for them, I would break his heart, he would break my heart and we can’t possibly be in love we needed to date others. Comments of displeasure of course were not expressed in open tweets to us. Their obsessive habits have included following our network of friends to gain access to sending DMs. Instead they tweet gossiped, sent DM’s to us, DM’s to others, left voice mail and sent emails professing their doing these things out of love for us. After weeks of a small group interfering and meddling in our relationship Rick’s Sister Kathy decided to act on her own plan.
To say our engagement was nothing as I imagined it might or would ever be is an understatement. As was our nightly pattern Rick and I were speaking on the phone while typing out our final tweets of the day. A single tweet caught my attention and I told Rick he might want to read what his sister had just tweeted me. After a brief silence Rick said to me, “Well, baby, as you know I was going to ask you anyway, but it's a nervous time in a man's life (to ask a woman to marry him), and it was a relief to have a third party (Kathy) do it for me. That's what sisters are for. Will you marry me”? My reply, “Yes”! I was engaged to my Rick the man who loves me and as deeply as I love him.
(These are verbatim actual tweets from Twitter) @thehillers Darling Lee...Will you be my sister in law? Sending love and prayers 2U. Angel...walking in light..8:19 PM Jun 19th from web in reply to thehillers. @kathyIreland Sis Lee says "YES!" & TY Sis 4 asking as it is a nervous thing ya know when a man asks. xx00Blessing Ur Bro & Sis In Law xx08:25 PM Jun 19th from web @kathyireland I would Love to be your Sister In Law Rick @ricklondon just asked on phone & I said Yes Love to You, Lee & Rick xx00xx8:27 PM Jun 19th from TweetDeck in reply to ADD @ to kathyireland. As Rick reminded me that night he communicates with his “Sis”, author/entrepreneur Kathy Ireland often. She already had knowledge that he had planned to ask me to marry him in July. We were both thrilled by her Tweet.
Are social networks like Twitter for you? This you will have to decide for yourself. I can only say you never know what you might be missing if you don’t try. My adventures in Twitterville have been blessed with true love, new family, new friends, great conversation and opportunities to help others. What could be better than that?
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