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| Our Story |
| It was customary for me to regularly attend IRC gatherings at a local pool hall in New York City that was selected by the majority for this purpose. The meets took place every Wednesday night. This really has not changed for various years, but what does change are the faces of the people that embrace IRC as more than just an opportunity to chat with people from a "safe" distance. One evening last year, I finally met a very flirtatious and lively female IRCer in person for the first time. Her nick was Cutey`Honey and she had come down with her then sister-in-law. She was very talkative and friendly and I appreciated these qualities, but it was obvious she was not familiar with the invisible barriers people build around themselves at the meets. She joined us for a few more meets and eventually she began to talk about one of her brothers that had recently divorced. She described him as "hot", very funny, and overall nice guy. However, being somewhat of a veteran at the IRC meeting game, I took her words with a very large "grain of salt". The next time she came to the meet, she announced her brother would be picking her up. He showed up about an hour later. That was the first time I met Thomas and I was rather skeptical about the whole thing since I felt we were being "hooked up". That first time, I really did not make an attempt to talk to him or get to know him. We talked for a few seconds as were being introduced and that was about it. He suggested going out to dinner sometime and I agreed, but did not really foresee that we would meet again. We encountered each other a few times over the next half year or so and I tried to keep my distance because I feared that things would eventually turn out bad as in all my previous dealings with men. I was just at a point in my life where I had given up on the prospect of a happy relationship. Eventually, we agreed to go out, but of course I had to be the one to grovel and make amends since I had several strikes under my belt already. By this, I refer to the fact that I had never given him the impression of being enthusiastic when it came down to getting to know him or even exploring what it would be like if we met outside of the IRC meets. I asked him to come down to the meet for us to talk and just get to know each other. He did and we had a nice time and then agreed to go out on a weekend afternoon. It's funny because he describes that first date as a "bad" date because he felt uncomfortable for various reasons, and I look back on it and describe it as "slow paced". It took a bit of persistence, but we finally go to know each other well and against my predisposed misconceptions, we were basically seeking the same thinds and had many similar tastes and hobbies. I really would have never guessed we would turn out to be so compatible. I do have to admit that she (Cutey`Honey) was absolutely right in her first assessment and I will forever be grateful that she was :) |
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