This Couple Literally First Met On Neopets & Now They're Married & I Can't Deal
I've heard a lot of great "how we met" stories in my day. My parents met when my dad caught my mom egging her ex's house. My friend started dating her boyfriend after being best friends with him at work for years. My co-worker met his girlfriend on a flight to Japan. There are plentyy of great meet-cute stories out there, but I've got to say, this couple who met on Neopets really takes the cake for the best "how we met" story I've ever heard.
Kristin and Michael Andrews-Karr met when they were both preteens in the early 2000s, playing on "a role-playing guild" on Neopets called the "Evil Jellies," and they have now been married for just over four years, according to BuzzFeed News. Apparently, "Evil Jellies" had good guys and bad guys, and Kristin, now 29, joined the guild as a good guy. Now-27-year-old Michael, on the other hand, joined the guild as a bad guy under the pseudonym "Doctor," according to Kristen.
Kristin and Michael decided stay friends by communicating through online chats and Neomail, and that's where their relationship really started to blossom. While the two still only knew each other by their usernames, Kristin recounted to BuzzFeed News that she and Michael would chat daily to "playfight" and "talk stupid drama" regarding their online community.
Even when the two outgrew Neopets as teenagers, they maintained their cyber friendship through everyone's favorite online chat service: AIM.
"We went from silly rivalry to talking about school and life," Kristin told BuzzFeed News. "It took a long time from having talked pretty much daily when we were younger teens when he finally sent me pictures of himself and we would sneak phone calls." Eventually, the two revealed some personal information, including some photos and their real names, with each other via AIM.
As time went on, their feelings for each other started to grow deeper. Kristin told BuzzFeed News that the two would speak every morning, and even tell each other "love you" super casually. Finally, Kristin wanted to get to the bottom of what those amorous messages really meant. She told BuzzFeed News she responded to Michael's "love you" by asking, "Do you really mean that about me?" AND THANK GOD, THE FEELINGS WERE RECIPROCATED.
Kristin told BuzzFeed that, while she had told her own parents about Michael, he still felt a little more uneasy about sharing the details with his. "He was afraid that if he told his parents about me, they would tell him he can't talk to strangers online," she told BuzzFeed News. But Michael wasn't about to let the fear of his parents' reaction stop him from meeting the woman who would one day become his wife.
When college application time came around, BuzzFeed News reports 17-year-old Michael found a school called Hendrix College, which was conveniently located right by Little Rock, Arkansas, (where Kristin was from). He planned his trip to visit the campus with his parents... and meet Kristin. They chose a local restaurant to meet at where Kristin showed up with her mother by her side.
It was love at first sight, and that first encounter was enough for Michael to go all in — on Hendrix College, that is. According to BuzzFeed, after that, he officially decided to go to the school, where he and Kristin were finally able to have a relationship outside of the computer.
Michael eventually proposed to his online-girlfriend-turned-real-life-soulmate in 2014, and they tied the knot soon after, in the most epic love story of our generation, clearly.
Kristin says the success of their relationship is generally related to its online roots. "We learned growing up as kids talking to somebody on the internet that you got to know how to communicate — otherwise you won't have a friend," she told BuzzFeed News.
As Kristen mentioned to BuzzFeed, this story shows that even online relationships have the power and potential to transform into some of the most important relationships in your life. "You can make real friends and have real relationships," she told BuzzFeed News.
Congratulations to the happy couple, and please excuse me for a moment while I try to find my old Neopets password.
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