How we met...

Who would have thought that an extensive vocabulary, above-average typing skills and a "daggy" video would be the best way to connect with your soulmate...

After looking for love in all the obvious places, Amber had all but given up on finding Mr. Right. Fortunately, a love for word games would change all that. Her mother had warned her that she would find the right guy only if she stopped looking, so she did just that. Instead of spending her free time browsing personals ads, she set up an account on Facebook.

Link to Scramble

For those of you who're not familiar with Facebook, it's a social networking site where you can reconnect with friends, family and acquaintances... oh, and waste away your precious free time playing online games. Such was the case for one Miss Avello, who one day found her way into the world of Scramble (a game based on the popular word game Boggle) and the curious inhabitants of the 4x4 Social Room (an area of the game where "live" players can compete against each other, but more often end up chatting instead).

For the most part, they're a welcoming bunch and it wasn't long before Amber had become one of the regulars.

As she whiled away her time on-line, she was impressed by one particular "kid" by the name of Darren who seemingly always appeared at the top of the leaderboard. Based on his photo, he looked to be in his early 20's (too young for Miss Avello, but, that's okay, since she wasn't looking anyway). The curiosity over how a young'un like Darren had amassed the vocabulary needed to win as much as he did finally prompted Miss Avello to compliment him on his skills, to which he replied "if you think I'm good, you should wait til Toby comes back".

A week or two later, the infamous Toby returned from a trip to Europe, and it was only a matter of time before he ended up back in Scramble, where he and Amber would cross paths for the first time. True to Darren's prediction, Toby did indeed have some not insubstantial Scramble skills, regularly surpassing Darren's score, and often making two to three times as many points as other players.

Intrigued, and with little to go on (thanks to a fuzzy profile picture), Amber set about finding out more about this mysterious "Toby Ivey". Having witnessed his incredibly witty banter in the Scramble chat room night after night, Amber was finally able to see (and hear) the real Toby when another player accused him of cheating. To assuage the player's fears of wrong-doing, Toby shared the link to a short and somewhat daggy YouTube video of himself playing a round of Scramble. Amber quickly stole the link for her own perusing and, upon seeing the Scramble Master in his plaid shirt and baseball cap (and hearing his slight accent), her first thought was, "Wow, he's kinda cute."

Perhaps it was the video that pushed her over the edge, but within days the very same Toby Ivey featured in one of her dreams, as none other than a designer of postage stamps.

When she next visited the Scramble room, she couldn't wait to relay her dream. Toby didn't happen to be there at the time, but their mutual friend Jess was, and so Amber told her about the dream. Amber asked Jess what this could mean, and whether or not dreaming of Scramble players meant she was playing too much. Jess assured her, "He's cute and he's nice and someone like that can get in your head, but don't stop playing or else I'll cry." Before parting for the night, Amber asked Jess to tell Toby, if she saw him later, that she "sensed his absence".

That one phrase would ultimately set in motion the series of events that would lead to their meeting in person.

Jess did indeed see Toby later that night, and relayed the message as instructed. It wasn't unusual for players to flirt with each other in Scramble, but the odd phrasing of the message caught Toby's interest immediately, and for the first time he began to wonder who this Amber Avello really was.

Through some opportunistic maneuvering (thanks to Jess once again) Toby eventually figured a way to get a picture of himself - perhaps the worst he could have ever taken - to Amber. She responded with a link to her Flickr account which featured photos from her travels (and flattering photos of herself), and before long the two were exchanging instant messages, e-mails and ultimately phone calls.

Clearly there was a level of interest from both parties and when the opportunity to travel to the New York area for business presented itself to Toby, he decided to take a chance and gave Amber a call.

Trying not to be too presumptuous, Toby suggested he was thinking of extending his business trip an additional day. Amber, for her part, played coy and asked why he might be considering extending his trip. With the ball clearly back in his court, Toby finally confessed that he was interesting in meeting Amber in person.

With very little persuasion, Miss Avello agreed to meet up, and the date was set for November 13th.

On the way to their date, Toby stopped by a bodega near his hotel and picked up some flowers. He had no idea that the various colors each had different meanings, so he first chose a bouquet of pink roses. However, as he was in the process of paying for them, he changed his mind and replaced them with yellow - not realizing that yellow roses represent friendship, and not knowing the unintended effect this seemingly random decision would have.

Arriving several minutes early, Mr. Ivey elected to wait outside of Amber's apartment a few moments before letting her know that he had arrived. In that brief time, Amber's old roommate Johanna walked past, took one look at the tall, goateed stranger standing outside holding yellow roses, and thought to herself, "I bet he's there to see Amber."

Toby can still remember the moment he first laid eyes on Amber in person. She emerged from the building and confidently made her way towards him to break the ice with a warm embrace. Confident and calm just moments earlier, he found himself fumbling for words and as nervous as a school boy with a crush.

He awkwardly presented his offering of yellow roses to her, and her face lit up with a dazzling smile as she tried to contain her surprise. Without knowing it, Toby had picked the one flower with the most symbolism for Amber. Years before his passing, Amber's father had given her a piece of advice that always stayed with her: Marry your best friend.

Since that night, neither of them have looked back...