Ennui is dead!

Ever dread something to the point where you even contemplate backing away? I do that sometimes. Despite the fact that I dragged myself up and moved to Germany without a safety net or a English-German dictionary, I am not very good at new situations. I like my comfort zones. A big reason why I'm content with being home most of the time caring for a quadriplegic - aside from the fact that he's cute and has an amazing personality - is that I'm best when in my comfort zone. I crave the familiar and straying too far from it makes me uneasy. It's that thing I have for being liked. I like to be where I know I'm liked. Having said that, imagine the anxiety and near nausea I worked up this morning anticipating meeting up with someone I met through my blog.

Laura (everyone wave to Laura - she the nice lady with the gorgeous curly hair lurking there in the back) is an American who happens to be in Magdeburg with her husband while he's here on business. Through sheer luck, Googling skills and her love for yarn and the need to buy some she found this here blog. She emailed me to say hello, ask me about buying yarn here in my adopted hometown and after a few exchanges and her reading through the archives here we found that we had a lot in common. Some things are so in common I was expecting Rod Serling to pop out any moment and the creepy music to start up.

Now I had to do it. It was time to put aside my craving for routine, step out of my comfort zone and meet her in person. Americans in Magdeburg aren't common. Americans in Magdeburg who write nice emails are less common. And Americans in Magdeburg who love knitting have got to be fewer still so I'd be crazy not to meet with her. How could I pass up meeting someone that speaks the same language and knits?

I won't say that I had second thoughts about our meet-up this afternoon. I will say, however, that I was on the verge of whipping myself into a froth over it and I became nearly nauseated with anxiety. I set out earlier than I needed to with the idea of walking slowly over to her hotel. A slow walk on a cold day should surely keep down the nausea, right?

I'll admit it. Freely admit it. I was wrong. I had nothing to be anxious about. All my worries and anxiety and queasy stomach was for nothing. I'll just say it. She's fabulous. Fab. u. lous. Fun, easy to talk with, interesting, witty - all those things you wish for in a person when you meet them for the first time, Laura's got them.

It was easy to start off our outing - go where the yarn is! She helped me pick out some 50% silk 50% rayon yarn for my Cozy wrap and she's convinced me that knitting socks on 2 circs is the way to go so I bought needles for that purpose. I loved that about her - she encouraged me to branch out and try new stuff with my knitting and to become a better knitter through it. It was great that she answered my questions and explained things so nicely and didn't think it was so bad that I'm still just a novice knitter.

After that we headed for a restaurant where we talked without a break. There wasn't one lull in the conversation, not one awkward moment, not one minute of dullness. The more we talked the more we found that we have in common and not only little things like our wedding dates being one day apart but we understood the relationships each of us has with our husbands. Her nursing experience lets her have first hand knowledge of what it's like to be someone's caretaker. We could realte to divorce and meeting someone online and marrying them. We just got each other.

After all that it wasn't much of a surprise to find out that she was anxious about getting out of her own comfort zone to meet me.

The afternoon went on and I brought her back to my apartment so she could meet B. I can't help it - I like to show him off. After a good conversation with him I walked with Laura back to her hotel and I got to meet her husband and then in an effort to wring out every last available minute of this visit (they're leaving town tomorrow) they walked me halfway back home while on their way out to get supper. Just a lovely, lovely couple.

So since I know she'll peek in here let me take a minute to thank Laura for a really great afternoon. I needed it. I needed a break from my routine. I needed that trip outside my comfort zone. I needed to know that I could get away from being the wife and caretaker and just do girl stuff for a while and remember how wonderful and rejuvenating it can be. Thank you for the conversation, for the knitting lesson, the goody bag and most of all for great compliments. Let me know when you get back to Magdeburg. We'll hop a train and go find yarn.

Oh. And thank you Google!