We met on September 30, 1999, in Tel Aviv, Israel of all places! We were staying in the same youth hostel....I was there on holiday, and he was there to watch a soccer game (his favorite team, Glasgow Celtic, was playing).

It was around 5 in the evening. I was walking up the stairs in the hostel, and he was heading downstairs to leave. We nearly ran into each other, but instead our eyes locked. In a moment, he was out the door.

I don't know what came over me, but something inside told me that I had to talk to him. I ran outside and found him with his friends and approached them. They were all from Scotland, maybe a few from Ireland. We made plans to meet at a pub after the game that night.

We met up a few hours later, and while all the guys sang and sang and sang (as Scottish football fans so often do), Steven and I talked and talked and talked. After a while we walked along Tel Aviv Beach together. Unfortunately I had a boyfriend at the time, so nothing happened. I saw him again the next day and that was it. We had exchanged addresses and phone numbers, but a couple months later, I moved.

At Christmas, he did send me a package, which forwarded to the new apartment. My boyfriend took one look at what was inside the package (pictures of us, a cassette he made for me, and a Christmas card), and destroyed all it's contents.

I had lost Steven's address as well, so unless he were to send me another package or letter, I would never be in touch with him again.

Every night from the day we met, I had dreams about him. Sometimes they would be romantic, sometimes they would be nothing. Summer of 2000, I was still dreaming of him. I left the lousy guy I was with, and decided I needed to look for Steven, because nothing else was going to satisfy this deep longing I felt for him. Mind you, I didn't even have his last name! I had NOTHING! And he lived 4000 miles away!

I searched the internet, I tried guessing what his last name might be, I wrote letters to random guys named Steven who lived in Scotland, hoping they would be him. Nothing worked. Finally I thought to write to some newspapers in Scotland and place an ad. If this didn't work, I was going to give up.

One newspaper responded to me saying they would publish my plea free of charge. I was thrilled. This was in August.

On September 30, 2000, EXACTLY ONE YEAR to the day from when we met, I got a voice mail message from Steven. I was in disbelief. I thought someone was playing a joke. I didn't know what to do....so I listened to the message about 100 more times in a row, and decided to call him.

It really was the beautiful man I had encountered in the humid Middle East. I can't remember feeling so happy before that...

It turned out he wasn't the one who saw the ad. His friend who lives in IRELAND, was on holiday in SPAIN, and was reading a SCOTTISH newspaper (strange, isn't it?)...he came across my ad, and recognized Steven right away.

He phoned him from Spain and said, "Steven, did you meet a girl called Tina while you were in Tel Aviv last year?" Steven replied, "Yes...how do you know?" His friend said, "Did you go to this bar, and walk on this beach and stay at this hostel?" Steven replied, "How the heck do you know all THAT??" His friend said, "She's looking for you!" And that was that!

We spoke on the phone every few days and a few months later I went to Scotland to ring in the new year with him. As soon as I got off that plane, I was covered with kisses. I knew where this was going... Leaving Scotland to go back to Seattle was so hard...I cried and cried and cried myself sick.

Since then we've been on the phone almost every day. He came to visit me in Seattle in April, and in July we are going to meet in Berlin and go to his friend's wedding in Poland. This is quite the international relationship!

It's so hard being this far away from someone I love so much, but well worth the wait and the travel. It really takes two strong people to make a relationship like this work, online or offline. I think we are doing a swell job of it!

I have fallen so deeply in love with this amazing man, and I can't remember being treated so well. Hopefully the future will be kind to us and we will someday live together. Until then, I am accruing many air-miles!