First meetings
I first got online in college, in the mid-’80s, using BITNET to flirt with talk to people at other colleges via Relay, the forerunner of IRC. In 1992, I joined the WELL and got my first dial-up ISP account. In other words, in Internet years, I am older than dirt. I say all this not to brag about my practically paleolithic status, but to explain that developing friendships online and transitioning them to the real world afterwards (if at all) is a very familiar concept to me indeed. Still, there’s always something both exciting and scary about meeting people for the first time after having talked to them often for a long time, and even more so when it’s someone with whom I’ve developed a genuine friendship. Will they like me? Will I like them? And then what?
In about seven hours, I’m heading to the airport to pick up someone who’s been a mainstay of my online life for most of the last decade. We chat on IM almost every workday – about writing, health, shoes (oh, how we talk about shoes), love, desire, motivation, family, therapy — and I can safely say she knows things about me that very few other people do. And yet in all these years, we’ve only spoken on the phone once, and we’ve never met.
I can’t wait to find out if we’re still friends in person!
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Oh!!! Scary for sure!!!!! But so exciting as well.
I just last month was a bridesmaid at one of my best friends’ wedding. We met online (in 98?) and were states away, when she moved to my state six or so years later-though still 4 hours away-I made plans to visit her for the first time, my kid in tow, and people didn’t quite understand when I said “I’m so excited! I’m meeting me best friend tomorrow!” :)
I understand the nervousness though! Hope you are having an excellent time!
who? WHO!???
I would be totally surprised if you knew her — I dragged her into our little corner of the Internet briefly but it didn’t stick! Her name is Alison.
So, how’d it go??
It was delightful! Less like meeting someone for the first time, more like hanging out with an old friend I just happened not to have seen in a long time (as in, ever).
And speaking of friends I haven’t seen…