This can be a super scary topic, or an exciting one.  We have all heard good and bad stories about people meeting on the Internet.  I choose to talk about the good ones.  I am on RLC mostly to make friends, but in hopes to find that 'special' one.  I don't do well on dating sites.  In Real Life (RL), I am still a work in progress.  LOL.  In the process of making friends, I have met many people whom I would like to meet.  Some as friends, others as more.  Since I have first logged onto RLC, I have ALMOST met 4 women, and actually met one woman, and one guy. 

The first person I had exchanged phone numbers with we hit it off great.  I bought her a plane ticket to come out and spend a weekend with me.  But, family things happened (yes, they really did), and she was unable to make it that weekend.  It ended up to be a good thing, she met and bonded with her now husband.  They are very happy, and I still keep in touch with her.  She no longer comes into RLC, since she now has a full family to take care of, and both of them work.  But, I am happy to have met her, nonetheless.

The second person I exchanged numbers with, hardly talked to me on the phone.  We were inseparable in RLC, though :).  We had a great time when in RLC, and even scheduled a time for her to come and visit.  She was only a friend, and we were actually trying to have a few more people join us, and have a weekend party.  I have several hotels in my area that we were looking at for people to stay in.  But, she ended up getting cold feet, and canceled the trip.  We have since lost touch with each other.  But it would be nice to talk to her again someday.

The third person I shared phone numbers with was pretty good, too.  This time, I flew out to meet her.  Luckily, I had an old friend from High School who let me stay at her and her husband's house.  That meeting went great.  We spent a couple of days together, and kept in touch for a long time after that.  But, due to unfortunate circumstances, we no longer talk to each other.  That is a long story in itself, so I will not go any further with that.

The fourth woman I set up a meeting with, only lives a few hours away from me.  We are god friends, almost like siblings.  We help each other through hard times, and have fun during the good.  I have no idea how I have gotten this far in life without her.  We had scheduled to meet at a halfway point, have lunch, and hang out.  She ended up with unexpected work that Saturday, and had to cancel at the last minute.  I still talk to her, and maybe someday we will meet.  I would bet that it will happen, and it will be fun

The fifth person I had set up a meeting with was difficult to work out a time, for many reasons.  We set a time and place, as she wasn't much more than an hour away from me, and was in an area I was familiar with.  We were to have lunch at a place we had both been to a few times.  She had to call and cancel about 30 minutes before I left my house.  Work issues.  I was just happy I had not left the house, yet.  We tried to set another one up, but that one didn't work out, either.  I was getting the hint, loud and clear.  She was not ready.  I have left it in her court.  If she wants to meet, she knows I am willing :).  We still keep in touch, too :).

The sixth person happened because of tech support.  He and I were talking in PM about the new RLC client.  He was telling me how he could not get it to install.  So he read me the error message, and it was a really odd one.  Since he only lives a couple of hours away from me, I figured that I could go to his house and fix it.  OMG.. RULE #1... MEET IN PUBLIC!  I broke that rule?  Ok, I did... BUT, he had met 3 other friends of mine about 4 or 5 days before.  I figured I was safe, since they all liked him.  More importantly, they all knew what he looked like!!  HAHAHAHA  I fixed his problem in about 20 minutes, installed the new client, went to lunch, and I went home.  I think we hung out for a total of 2.5 hours.  I am sure we will hang out again.

Now we come to the future.  A friend and I have already made plans to meet.  It will be in 2 weeks.  We are BOTH nervous, excited, and probably 10 other emotions that we can't even describe.  She is coming to visit me for a week, we hope!  LOL.  She is going to stay with me, yes we BOTH know how nuts that is.  She is one of the 3 people that met #5, so he knows what she looks like, and he knows what I look like.  Not to mention, she has a bunch of local friends who know she is coming, and I have told friends, too.  Also, we talk on the phone enough, that we both feel comfortable with this arrangement.  But, the nerves and excitement are still there.

I just wanted people to know, that there are people in RLC willing to meet others.  I am one of them.  I take precautions on each person I meet.  I didn't go into details on the precautions for each meeting, because... well.. I am crunched on time to get this post done :).

I hope to have an opportunity to meet more people from RLC.  It is one of the reasons I signed up for it.  I would LOVE to plan a European and Australian trips to meet the RLC friends I have made in those areas.

YAY!  I got it done on time
Web :)