Family and friends aren't helping. I met a wonderful man on an internet dating service site. He's in WA and I'm in NJ. We clicked immediately on e-mail and took it to phone calls within 3 days or so. After a week of calls, we just knew we were in love. Well, we had talked about his coming to NJ within the first week we were talking. See, we were both very serious about having a "soulmate" and we seemed to click so well we wanted to get the visuals over with to seal the deal.

When the date cam for his flight to come in, he never showed at the airport. For 36 hours I could not contact him until I finally got an e-mail explaining that he had some issues regarding my trust in him and got scared coming to NJ without resolving them.

He was so ashamed of missing the flight that he didn't know what to say to me so he didn't call. He's also afraid of flying, mind you. He says he wants everything to be right when we meet.

Anyway, after a day or two of intense phone conversations, we forgave each other for any hurt we caused the other and he's booking a flight again soon. I care very much for this man. I know he's not married since I've called his home at all times of the day and night and he's never told me not to call at any time. He's the only one ever answering the phone. I have his phone and address and have sent him Fedex packages that got his signature on the receipt. I have a number of photos of him and we haven't seemed to hide anything from each other. If I ask things of him, he doesn't hesitate to answer.

Does it sound believable that he got "cold feet"? I've never had a relationship from the web before and I want to believe he'll be there but I don't want to be disappointed again. Can you relate any experiences like this that may renew my faith in this situation or maybe let it go?

I may be 39 - but I'm just new to the internet dating scene. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

"Linda"