It was a holiday, a very special holiday, with someone very special.
I met her a long time ago on the internet. It seems very implausible, doesn't it, all as a result of exchanging blog comments, with an internet stranger, far away.
It's easy to think that people on the internet aren't real, -like the people you see in the backgrounds of movies. But they are real. You,, me, we are real. And in this medium, some of us sometimes interact. But to take it a step further, to converse outside the blogs, to email, eventually to speak, -that takes us out of our comfort zones, into, maybe, risk.
We can, by carelessness or stupidity, hurt each other, or be wounded ourselves. Some say it's a dangerous place, cyberspace, but is it any more so than real life?
Over time, we got to know each other, and decided to take that next scary step of meeting. It was scary for me, what if.... what if she decided that she didn't like the real me? the human me, as opposed to the pusher of words? What if she despised my home, my way of life, my world?
But mine was the easier part. She came a long way to see me, on unfamiliar ground, her friends warned her it was unwise, yet she took those brave steps and risked the possibility that I might be a serial killer or crazed madman.
You may think it not such a big deal, but I think it took a lot of courage. I'm glad she did.
That first visit was a foundation- she seems to like me, because she came back...
I won't go into too much detail, beyond that she makes me very happy and I wish I'd met her long ago.
And I hope she's in my life to stay.
We've spent a lot of time travelling , exploring places in this small but richly detailed country called England. Here are a few of our favourite places, there are many more yet to be explored;
