When you were meeting your internet friends for the first time in real life were you apprehensive? worried? wondered if this was a mistake? would she/he/they be like they were on the internet or something completely different? Well that basically sums up the feeling my friend Cheryl and I had before meeting for the first time.
We'd become acquainted back in the late 90's via an internet scrapbooking group we both belonged to. In early 2000, John and I decided we'd take a trip down to Las Vegas for a much needed break. Of course seeing as Cheryl and I shared everything I told her about it. I didn't know it but the wheels started working at her house (in the Sierra Nevadas of California) and soon she was asking what I thought of them coming down to Las Vegas to meet us. Now remember - this was early 2000 and we had never met or even met people who had met each other. I wanted to but.... and John was real leery of meeting total strangers from the internet. Finally though it was decided - we would meet but and this was a big but in the middle of Caesars Palace casino - how much more public than that could you get. I think both the guys were really antsy about this as they thought that was a good idea if we insisted on meeting each other.
Finally we were in Las Vegas and very nervous about this meeting but pictures of each other in hand we headed for the meeting place. All our worries went away immediately as they turned out to be exactly as they came across on the computer and the 4 of us have been friends ever since, seeing each other as often as we can. That meeting went so well that we've now met up with lots of other friends I've made through that scrapbooking group.
Do you remember your first meeting of someone you'd met on the internet? Were you nervous? Did you take any precautions just in case they were weird? I'd love to hear how you felt about it or were Cheryl and I both being super-cautious?
This was my March contribution to Storytelling Sunday that started over at Sian's blog last year. She's changed it a tiny bit this year which she tells you about here. March's stories can be found here. So why don't you grab a nice beverage and enjoy the stories?










