By Neil Weiner

Antonio had lost his job and his girlfriend, who dumped him with the familiar refrain: uncommunicative and passionless. 

Seeing his first unemployment check, Antonio’s mouth fell agape. The amount was twice what he had expected from his menial job. According to the letter, he was a programmer for Apple. Apparently, someone had stolen his identity. 

Checking his old email account, he discovered an ongoing intense online romance with the attractive, intelligent Celia. For weeks he studied the affectionate wording. Then he expressed his enthusiastic interest in her. Upon meeting him, Celia fell in love with the sensitive, ambitious programmer.

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As a professional psychologist, Dr. Weiner has worked for over 40 years specializing in couples and relationship groups. He has many insights on how connections develop. He has published a variety of related articles and five books. Dr. Weiner is featured in a monthly advice column, AskDrNeil, in a Portland Newspaper.