Today with Adam, was my first time, and the one time I’ll never forget

Up until 11:00 this morning, I was a virgin.

And then, I met Adam.

I was a virgin no more.

I know, how many people can say that online.

Ok, put your hands down… It was a rhetorical question.

Up until 11:00 this morning, I had never met another blogger in real life.   I have never been to a blogging conference, I have never been to a bloggy meet-up.  In fact, I had never talked to another blogger in any way other than on-line.

But when I saw that Adam would be in St. Louis, for his 10-year law school reunion in a city not all that far from my house, I had to take a chance he would have an hour free and might like to say Hi.  A few emails, and text messages later, we had a plan to meet for brunch at 11:00 today.

And by “we” I mean, Adam had agreed to not only meet me for lunch, but my girls as well.  And my girls had agreed that no matter how crazy they thought mom was for going to lunch with a guy she had never met before, they agreed to go.  (I can only hope they have never read his blog.)

So what made this different?  I felt like I knew Adam.  I’ve been reading his blog for years, we’ve exchanged dozens of emails over the years, I’ve left comments for him, he’s left comments for me.  I felt safe, I felt like I was meeting a friend I have known for years even though I had never laid eyes on him before today.

We had a lovely lunch, the food was great, the company awesome, the conversation was witty and funny and easy.  He included the girls, and the girls behaved themselves.  Adam even strongly suggested that she mix what was left of her nachos into a small little mountain in the middle of her plate. And then, Meredith surrounded it with tator tots.  So, I sat there and cringed that my daughters were playing with their food, I was relieved that Adam and the girls felt got along.

I won’t be attending BlogHer, or TequilaCon, or any other blogging conference any time soon.  (Unemployment doesn’t pay *that* well) but if the opportunity comes up again to meet another blogger in real life, I will step outside my comfort zone and go.

So, Adam, I know I have said Thank You profusely today, but one last time, thank you for lunch, for a lovely visit, for laughs, for some insights, for making my first time the one time I’ll never forget.