LOVE STORIES
Internet connection leads to Leap Year Day nuptials

By Tanya Bricking Leach
Advertiser Staff Writer

Mike Mangun and Jackie Daniels, who met a year ago on loveaccess.com, plan to take a leap of faith and wed today, leap day, in a ceremony on the North Shore with their pastor presiding. Family photo

She's a bartender, and Jackie Mangun just doesn't have the same ring to it.

But there's a lot people will do for love, especially for a man in uniform.

Jackie Daniels and Mike Mangun plan to take a leap of faith and wed today, leap day, in a ceremony on the North Shore with their pastor officiating.

Daniels and Mangun met a year ago on loveaccess.com, an Internet site. Daniels was in Michigan, sorting through e-mails from potential suitors.

One cold winter night when she was about to log of, Mike from O'ahu instant-messaged her. When she saw that he lived so far away, she thought it would never work. But there was something about him she liked.

"He just was sweet," she said. "He so stood out from the other guys. He was innocent."

Mangun, who spent part of his childhood in Hawai'i because his dad was in the Navy, told her about how his marriage to his high-school sweetheart didn't work out and he hadn't dated anyone since he was a teenager. His extended family came back to O'ahu after he was in the Army, and Mangun spent a lot of time scuba diving and hanging out with his family.

But he was missing a partner.

He and Daniels were both 38, carrying a little baggage after failed first marriages, and ready to give love another chance.

Their chats evolved into phone calls and finally to a visit when Mangun flew to meet her in Michigan last Memorial Day weekend.

"From the moment I saw him at the airport, all noise, everything around me stopped," Daniels said.

By the end of the five-day trip, he proposed, but Daniels didn't believe he was serious. She wanted to get to know him a little better. Six weeks later, she loaded her life into eight boxes and moved to Hawai'i.

"It wasn't love at first sight," she said. "It was love before first sight."

Technology helped them say things they might not have said in person.

Mangun said he knew she was "The One," and seeing the passion in her eyes confirmed it.

"I know a guy's version is really simple," he said. "But we get along." She has the adventurous spirit he was looking for, and he had the ability to make her fall madly in love.

In November, they learned Mangun, a sergeant first class in the Army's 325th Forward Support Battalion, 25th Infantry Division (Light), would be deployed to Afghanistan in April. That was the turning point in their relationship.

"The way I reacted surprised me," Daniels said. She knew she couldn't live without him. She wanted to be his wife.

Mangun said they'll make it through the months apart the way they started, with lots of e-mail.

"Part of the appeal was he wrote awesome e-mails," Daniels said. "It was like poetry. I'm looking forward to getting those lovely letters again."

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Tanya Bricking Leach writes about relationships for The Advertiser. Reach her at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.