Dawna and Gary connected in November 1997, when AOL instant messaging was the most technically advanced connection method around. It was new on the scene and allowed a person to filter members by demographics and send a message to them.

Dawna was a pharmacist in Jackson, Mississippi, and had just completed seven days of working the midnight shift, and was trying to stay awake to readjust to daytime hours. She was also about to begin working on her PharmD (Doctor of Pharmacy) degree, and wanted to know how to download and find documents to help her in her studies. She decided that she would go online and look for single guys in Nashville with computer experience. She didn't want to search locally for fear of being stalked. She previously lived in Nashville and felt that it was a good location to search. Gary was busy working that day coding computer programs at Bridgestone. AOL was active in the background, and an instant message greeting popped up. The technology or design at that point didn't have pictures on profiles, so we didn't know what each other looked like. Gary would respond to her instant messages as he was able while working, and at the end of the day, sent a message to her that he had to leave but could continue helping her after about 20 minutes when he arrived home. Their conversations continued, via instant messages, over the next several weeks intermittently, and they began to get to know each other without verbally speaking or seeing each other. They got to know each other's values, backgrounds, interests, and relationship status.

In January 1998, Gary was attending a Wednesday night church series for single adults focused on Christian relationships and dating. After the weekly session, he would share his notes with Dawna.

Gary invited Dawna to join him for one of the weekly sessions at his church in mid-January, and of course, at this point, her interest in him was piqued! She was able to do some schedule swaps and made the 6-hour drive to Nashville "to see about a boy she'd met online!" Their first face-to-face meeting was at El Chico Restaurant on Murfreesboro Road. Like every female best friend would do, Julie insisted that she join them for their first lunch to be sure Dawna was "safe." The rest is history!