Got to love Karol and the Louisville Slugger she always carries in her purse. lol!

Count me in with the bat people.

gosh ... I'm sensing the very slightest hint of derison there, pointed my way ...

you know the pro team as far as i can tell were unaware that Will was married..the person from the Destiny link (Moni) says as much in bunniblog's comments.

And I doubt they knew the way he left: no warning, just left a letter to his wife and children saying he was gone and with no clue to where.

From what I understand, he came off the rails when he lost his job. His wife did not have the ability to help him recover so he went looking for an internet interlude.

I think Maria will have her hands full.

Here is a story with a happy ending for the bat people.

An acquaintance of ours had a net romance with a man in Australia for over a year. She decided to leave her husband and fly to Australia to live with her new lover.

We were surprised at this because this woman was ugly and had a personality to match. Obviously, she had not sent the man a photo of herself.

She came back to her husband within a week. He refused to take her back, and he is giving thanks to that man in Australia every day.

I've had the pleasure and honour to meet Will's wife several times - you couldn't find a more caring person if you searched for a thousand years.

Any hint or suggestion otherwise is a smokescreen to cover up the sad truth.

Let's hope the man comes to his senses soon.

No derision, Benjamin, you weren't the one who left your wife and kids with a note. People are welcome to see different angles of this story. The one I see is the really ugly one while you see the beautiful love story. We're just different. I'm a big cynic about this kind of stuff and, again, I just see marriage as the hugest thing ever and can't respect someone who betrays it like this.

Pinball, as I said to Benjamin, I don't blame people for finding different perspectives to this story. I've shared mine.

Jake, had you read about this before? Yesterday was the first I'd heard of it.

Karol:

No I just followed your wonderful links and made a snap judgement.

No disrespect to you, Benjamin. I don't know you from Adam. Nor, do I have a clue what you said about the situation.

That aside, I do have problems with people who turn a blind eye towards shameful behavior.

Maybe I'm hearing the derison myself - fair enough. Somehow you seem pretty slanted in one direction, and seem to consider "my" POV somehow either "condoning" or "blind" at best.

All of that is, of course, fine. I mean, this is blogland! It's all about Personal Opinion. So, call it as you will - - and frankly, if you are sneering, that's fine too.

The post that's gotten me more than a little bit of flack (a bit before I started getting visitors from here, even) is one of many that I've been doing lately. I pick a different "Be" each day, mostly as a writing excercise. That day I decided to write one about love, 'cause it'd been on my mind a lot. I dedicated it to Maria & Will, 'cause the story I knew was a beautiful love story, so why not? Obviously there are new lights shed now -- but I'm more than a bit irked at the implication I wrote a "Be Supportive of Screwing Off Marriage."

Bit more'n two cents, I know. Sorry 'bout that.

Hope atlantic city was good!

Count me with the bats. That guy is a bastard.

Maybe the people who wrote supportive stuff didn't know what really happened.
Could it be that the M&W blog did not tell the whole story?

You can bet the house and the kids future on that one Paul.

Never will see the entire story in a snapshot. Seldom is it:
"Honey, we are having problems"
Honey replies, "nonsense dear - now go back and do the such and such."
"No, really, we are having problems."
"Oh, you'll get over it"
"No, I won't get over it until you address x,y,z with me"
Nonsense, there is no problem and this is getting to be a bore now go take the kids and get them ...."
However, when it does look like this, the bats still come out, there is still plenty of shame and the train does come off the tracks.
Just the way it is. The numbers don't favor Mexican soul mates but rare exceptions might but not without a cost.

To paraphrase Paul Auster in the Country of Last Things, "All learning come slowly, and if it comes, it comes at great personal cost."

I tend to agree with Brian, it that none of the blogs involved "tell the whole story." Even Cal's blog hints that something was wrong as far back as June, although she doesn't specifically cite any martimonial disturbance. Still, there are proper ways of dealing with such things-a note to one's wife and children instead of sitting down with a lawyer and an accountant and at least making sure that the kids are taken of care of before bolting to Mexico is not just shameful behavior. It's revolting.

I know a few happy couples. None of them are "net" romances, of which I'm always very skeptical.

Regarding that sick, irresponsible, selfish, delusional, pathetic f***, Will: I hope he gets his comeuppance soon.

So I guess that makes me a bat person?

I really thought it was one of those wonderful love stories...the rare type that comes along once in a blue moon...I didnt know that such pain was being inflicted.

"the path of true love never did tun smooth" Shakespeare

Even in the best of circumstances usually someone is hurt even by the "wonderful love stories."

*tips hat politely* Morning all. I'm Elsie, a former blogger and occasional celebrity commentator (self-appointed). I'm guilty of leaving some very furious comments here and there once this all came to light, including on Maria's site (and Benjamins).

No, Maria did not mention that her "Will" had a wife and family. No, nor did "Will". Yes, "Will" did have a breakdown some years ago. Yes, Cal did nurse him through that breakdown, keeping the family together and solvant (solvent? The one with money, not glue). No, "Will" did not speak to Cal about his unhappiness. Yes Cal did suspect something was wrong because of the changes in his behaviour and she did try to speak to him but "Will" denied there was a problem. Two weeks later he left a note with no clue to where he was going and disappeared. His family and his friends were frantic with worry given his history. And yes, a good number of us are hoping that this is a moment of madness and that he will come back to his wife of nearly 25 years and his two children, one of whom has dropped out of college because of the shock and stress - hardly surprising given the way they discovered where Billy was: through reading his new blog, and hers.

We are all hoping that Billy comes to his senses and comes home.

On a more positive note for Nate: I am part of an "internet" couple :) The Chap & I were reading each others blogs, then met in person at a blogmeet and finally, after much coy emailing, went for a drink together. That was nearly 2.5 years ago. Two things that were different: firstly we were both single (always helps!), secondly we immediately took our relationship away from the internet. Bloglandia isn't real, through being anonymous, people aren't really themselves. Plus we didn't want to make anyone feel sick when we got all slushy together.

Thanks, Elsie x

This story is interesting to me in what it says about the current culture of "love + destiny" films. For example I would cite "Serendipity" which, while sucky, does promulgate (did I use that right?) the idea the two people can just leave the people they've been in relationships with for ages and run off to someone else. Even "Sleepless in Seattle" traffics in that idea. I guess movies always make it less horrible in that they aren't married YET, just almost.

I think someone should make a movie where two people have one of these wonderful falling-in-love destiny type stories and then we find out that one of them is already married. Just put a stake right through that myth's heart. :)