The Big Get Away Part 1

I think to entice readers and keep myself busy for several days while on vacation, I will tell my story. It does not end happily. It ends in heartbreak. But I do have a smile on my face and I've already started telling jokes about it. It has nothing to do with teaching.

It started on February 18. I have a couple myspace - type webpages to communicate with various friends. Anyway, I got a message from someone whom I've never met before saying that it was too bad that I wasn't in The Big City anymore because I looked "delicious". I don't get many compliments like that from strangers and I guess I was flattered. I messaged back to say that the comment made my day, which it did. We messaged back and forth a few times and he seemed sane so I added him to my friend list and to my MSN. I'm going to call him A because his real name starts with an A (what with me and guys' names that start with A, my only three real boyfriends have all had names that start with A).

I got to see pictures of him and a glimpse into his life and he seemed relatively sane (so as not to scare you reader, he is quite sane just a little bizarre). We seemed to have some common interests and we were flirting even more. He said he was interested in meeting me and possibly having a relationship with me.

I was a little taken aback by this because I'm not one for the whole internet dating thing. I like to meet people to get their whole "vibe" before I consider dating them. Plus, I tell my students all the time that they should never meet someone they meet on line because it could be, like, a 40-year-old pedophile. But he seemed genuine and nice and my brother did meet his ex-online and my dad met his wife online.

I knew I had to leave the Small Town for Spring Break or I would go a bit nuts so I considered that a detour to A's place may be a possibility.

Over the last month, we chatted everyday and really got to know each other as best we could online. I really opened up to him, being totally honest with him and letting him see the real me. I told him about my flaws and strengths and my future plans and just about everything. We were really hitting it off. A was saying how much he liked me and couldn't wait to meet me and that maybe I was the girl for him. I was a bit skeptic that he could be so into me so quickly, and I was caught up in the flattery and the hopes of actually dating a nice guy. I agreed that it would be great to meet him and that I'd come to his town as his guest to meet him.

To be con't ...