There are times in everyone’s life where you must face your fears.  It’s about bucking up, swallowing that baseball sized lump in your throat, hoping that the battle between Mothra and Godzilla concludes in your stomach soon, and resign yourself to whatever it is that fate beholds you.  Some people fear spiders.  Some people fear snakes.  Some people fear flying.  Some people fear heights.

I fear people.

Well, to be more accurate, I fear meeting new people in social situations.  I am quite anti-social in all reality.  It really just isn’t my thing… kind of like talking on the phone (which I hate irregardless of what very sexy redheads say) where I basically end up not saying much.  Part of it perhaps is an underlying case of Lalophobia, and perhaps the rest is just general shyness.  It’s really just how I am… which is one reason why most of my friends are from work in one form or another.

So to overcome your fears, your basically supposed to do them.  So with sweaty palms and quivering knees today, I drove to the airport.  I puked once outside before going into Baggage Claim Area B.  I was nervous as hell, and had to double check with five different people that I was in the right place.  My imagination began to run wild… like, what if THEY were 7 feet tall and could squash me like a bug?  What if THEY was really a representative form the Cereal Companies coming to have me thrown in jail for my bad review of Frosted Flakes?  What if THEY wanted to take my hat?  What if THEY was a secret agent who was going to use me to ferry stuff into the DDR all Gotcha style?  What if… what if… THEY wanted to chop me into little pieces???

So when my phone rang I jumped.  Literally.  The people around me looked at me kind of odd as I answered it.  The person on the other end identified THEMselves (even though I knew it was THEM from the caller ID) and told me they were walking off the plane right that minute.  I told THEM where I was and hung up.  Now was the moment of truth. 

Should I stay where I was?  Following all the Internet Safety Meeting rules I’ve ever read, we were meeting in a public place, on “neutral” ground, and in full view of the public.  How fast will people react if THEY pulled a machete and hacked me up?  Maybe THEY wouldn’t be able to find me… and if THEY can’t find me then THEY won’t be able to hack me up!  Wait.  I told THEM where I was.  Doh. 

The seconds ticked by.  Each was longer than the next.  The fear.  The anxiety.  Then… IT happened.

I.  Met.  Poppy.

Life will never be the same.

And no… she did not chop me up into little pieces.