New Friend?

A while back I told you that I joined a couple of groups at MeetUp.com. I joined a specifically gay group and a group that is gay friendly. The gay group is not really very active. Last week I was contacted directly (via email) by one of the other members of the group. This guy (let's call him Steve) wrote to me asking if I wanted to help him get some events going on the gay group.

His email was kind of out of the blue, but he had a profile on MeetUp that I looked over. He picture looked friendly and he looked to be a little older than me. It also indicated he has moved here from the Northeast with his partner or over 10 years. Just the kind of person I was hoping to meet.

I arranged to meet him for lunch today. I met him at a local hot dog joint (no, "hot dog" is not a euphemism for anything) and he was right on time. For having met for the first time he was extremely friendly and outgoing. If I had to guess, I would say he was in his early 50's.

We ordered food and I gave him the very short version of my story and I got his. He has lived here about 3 or 4 years and seems to have build up a huge network of friends. He and his partner entertain a lot and they often have friends over to their house.

He also knows about many of the gay goings on in the area and he was willing to connect me with some of these groups. Wow! This was unexpected!!! In fact, he invited me to a gathering at his house tonight. Apparently his partner's birthday is this weekend, but Steven will be out of state visiting family, so they are having the party tonight. I won't be able to go but I thanked him for the invite and asked that he think of me for the next time.

This week seems to be full of interesting developments.