Vickie is spending a lot of time on the internet in chat rooms. Her favorite room is the hockey room. She is an incredibly avid hockey fan. She starts talking to a man who uses the nickname Fedorov. Her nickname is BureBabe. Pavel Bure is her favorite player. Fedorov and BureBabe hit it off immediately. Vickie finds out her internet buddy's name is Greg. A friendship blooms. Soon they start exchanging phone calls. They spend 8-10 hours on the phone a day. Neither is sleeping anymore. They can barely pull themselves away from each other to go to work. They discuss life, politics, and a lot of hockey. (After a month, they decide that they need to meet. Her schedule is more open than his so she books a weekend trip. He lives in the Detroit area, she in the Atlanta area. As the time for the trip grows nearer, so do their hearts. They admit that they have unbelievably fallen in love. A few days before the trip, during a conversation, Fedorov states that he is not going to want to let BureBabe leave after the weekend. BureBabe admits that she isn't going to want to leave either. So, Fedorov says, "So don't". BureBabe does the only crazy thing she's done in her life and starts packing. Fedorov has pictures of BureBabe, but she has never seen him before. But that doesn't seem to matter to her. She crams everything she can into 2 large suitcases and 2 very heavy carry ons, and heads to Detroit to meet her love.
On the plane she is restless and anxious and nervous. The hour and 45 minute flight seems like forever, when finally they announce that they are descending into Detroit. Now she's really nervous. She had a rough idea of what he looked like. 6'2" blondish, blue eyes, glasses, and kind of husky. As she walks down the exit ramp, her pulse is pounding. Then she spots him. He's not exactly what she had conjured up in her mind, but it doesn't matter. His face lights up when he sees her. She walks towards him and he envelops her in a bear hug and drags her out of the walkway over into the seating area. He looks into her eyes and lays a huge kiss on her. Her toes tingle. After the kiss she opens her eyes and gazes into his. She knows that this is right. A feeling of peace settles over her. They walk to the baggage terminal, stopping occasionally to kiss and hug. She can't stop smiling and he can't stop touching her, hugging her. On the ride home they talk and laugh and it's absolutely perfect. They spend the whole day sitting, talking, laughing, and just touching each other as if to make sure they were really there.
Several months go by, and they move into a new home, one that is fresh for each of them. Life is good. They spend all their time together pursuing their favorite activities, making each other happy, and hockey. She has never lived in an NHL town, so she is in hog heaven. Her boss has season tickets to the Red Wings and they get to use them occasionally. They also buy tickets to the Detroit Vipers. She convinces him to start playing roller hockey. Life is good for them. They keep in contact with their internet friends who think that they are just the cutest things alive. Some say it's even sickening, but Vickie and Greg know it's just their jealousy talking. (As the time goes by they grow closer and start thinking about future plans.)
On February 15th 1997, Fedorov proposes to BureBabe. Through her tears and smiles, she says yes.
On April 25, 1998 they got married with a hockey themed wedding, and are living happily, ever
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