May 9: I met an online friend! Colleen and I became friends on MySpace almost a year ago and we were both surprised to discover that we live in the same town. Although we had hoped to meet each other in person long before now, things just kept occuring that prevented this from happening.

Colleen is a regular on MySpace, always posting blogs and pictures and adding music like there's no tomorrow. She's an unbelievably good artist, which is why she is a good teacher of art. When we first "met", she lived about a mile away from me, but was having some problems with her little studio and some scheduling problems. She then went on a little trip, so she wasn't around for a short stretch of time.

Winter arrived and I seldom go out in the winter unless I have to or the weather is exceptionally nice for that time of year. Colleen, too, isn't a big fan of winter, so when she was around, she wasn't going out to socialize all that much. Plus, she was a bit busy helping her friend move to a new place.

The next thing I knew, Colleen was off on another trip, this time to visit friends and to spend some time with her family. By the time this May had rolled around, she had completed her trip, moved in with her friend in her new place, and was anxious to enjoy this area again now that it was no longer winter. I, too, was more than ready to get out there, do some socializing, and have some fun, so a date to finally meet in person was set.

We met at Aidan's Pub, a favorite little spot here in town. Colleen brought her friend, Kath, along. I would have brought Edie with me, but Edie was still quite a bit under the weather, so I went alone. We recognized each other right away from the pictures of each other we had seen in MySpace. They enjoyed fish and chips, I enjoyed a couple of huge stuffies (those are stuffed quahogs/clams), and we had a couple of beers as we talked, laughed, and got to know each other better. The whole time felt so comfortable and natural, almost like we had already met and already did know each other.



Here's Colleen and me outside of the pub. Poor Colleen had such a bad sunburn.



Here's Colleen and Kath.



Here's another shot of us at the pub.