Of necessity, not much can be said about SWINTBN. This much, I think, can be:

• We met in a chat room around 1997. At the time, I thought she was one of the two most desirable women therein.
   
• Among other things, she was brilliant, she was witty, and though there are seldom any opportunities to demonstrate it in the context of chat, I sensed a layer of sweetness and tenderness that few would ever be fortunate enough to see.
   
• Shortly thereafter, it occurred to me that I should make up my mind once and for all; it was not useful to vacillate between the two.
   
• And that would probably have been the end of that, except that at some point I was actually foolish enough to tell her.
   
• I think, though I am not sure, that she subsequently forgave this lapse in judgment.
   
• An opportunity arose where we could meet in person in a relatively safe environment.
   
• We both reasoned that a jolt of reality might be exactly what was needed to knock the romantic delusions out of me.
   
• So I went into the meeting halfway expecting to be disappointed.
   
• Imagine my surprise when she turned out to be more beautiful than I had imagined, and that she had God's own windchime for a voice, and that finding that layer of sweetness and tenderness was infinitely easier than I had suspected.

The woman of my dreams, I am convinced, does not actually exist, and if she did, I can think of no reason why she'd want anything to do with me. But someone who comes as close as this simply could not be overlooked. And I consider it to be one of God's cosmic jokes that the next time I actually ran into someone in this league, that someone was equally unavailable, for entirely different reasons.