Andy Johnstone and Shari Paget had no idea an online cribbage app would eventually lead to their wedding.
Paget, a resident of Airdrie, and Johnstone, a member of the Royal Air Force who lives in High Wycombe, England, credit their trans-Atlantic relationship to the Cribbage Pro app and are grateful for the way technology can connect people around the world.
“It makes the world so much smaller and I think that’s the beauty of it,” Johnstone said. “You can still meet somebody and fall in love from anywhere in the world. Technology these days allows you to start that relationship, build and then maintain that relationship.”
“It wasn’t even started as a relationship,” Paget added. “Without the technology, we never, ever would have met. We were just playing a card game.”
Johnstone said he was introduced to the app in late 2016 when his daughter returned home for Christmas and said she’d recently learned how to play cribbage.
“We started playing manually using a piece of paper – we didn’t even have a crib board,” he said. “I said, “In this day and age, there must be something online,” so she found this game and we played a little bit over Christmas and then I continued to play every now and then.”
Cribbage Pro allows users to play a game against others around the world, which is how Johnstone wound up pairing against Paget.
“I was playing and this beautiful lady’s head shot came up on the game, and I thought, ‘She’s beautiful. I’d like to play with her,’” Johnstone said. “I missed the opportunity because somebody else dived in and started a game.”
Undeterred, Johnstone waited patiently for another opportunity and the couple played their first game of cribbage in May 2017.
“Within the app, you can choose to have a little chat bubble enabled,” he said. You can chat very briefly while you’re playing the game…. It’s texting, basically.”
Over the ensuing months, the two continued to play and chat. In October 2017, Paget and Johnstone decided to take their budding romance out of the app and arranged a Skype session.
“That was when we really began to take off with the relationship,” Johnstone said.
Because of his role in the military, Johnstone had not uploaded a profile picture in the app, but through some online sleuthing, Paget was able to find his pictures.
“He was really fun to talk to, to message with,” she recalled. “We had lots in common.”
A month after their first Skype conversation, Johnstone arranged a trip to Canada to visit Paget for her birthday in March 2018 and the couple spent three weeks together. The following June, Paget spent six weeks in the U.K.
When not on the same continent, the pair navigated the seven-hour time difference with frequent Skype conversations.
“Once we started Skyping, we have not gone a day without seeing each other, whether in person or via Skype,” Paget said.
Throughout, the couple continued to play cribbage online and Johnstone estimates they’ve faced off around 3,600 times. Often, the couple said, they would play a game in the app while talking verbally through FaceTime or Skype.
In December 2018, Johnstone visited Canada to see Paget and popped the question on Christmas Day. She said yes.
“It was a surprise, definitely a surprise,” she said. “I mean, I always hoped it would happen and felt it would. The whole relationship, it just felt right.”
The couple said they’ve been supported by friends and family, even if loved ones initially greeted the relationship with reservations.
“At first, of course, my friends and family were like, ‘What are you doing? You met this guy on the Internet and now he’s coming here and you’re going to meet him?’” Paget said. “It sounds kind of scary but you don’t realize, unless you’re in that, all of the hours we spent together talking.”
“We both have grown-up kids, and they are very accepting of the situation,” Johnstone said. “Our parents, I think, are very pleased that we found love and found each other.”
The couple were wed in a small ceremony in Airdrie March 7. Following their wedding, Johnstone and Paget plan to move to England for two years until his retirement, at which time they will return to Airdrie.
As for who’s the better cribbage player, the couple just laughed.
“We’re not going to go there,” Paget said.
“I would just say that out of all those games, I’m up by about 212 games,” Johnstone added.
Ben Sherick, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @BenSherick
