One of the downsides to making friends through social media is common issue with knowing just how you “met”. Did I follow you and you follow me back or the other way around? Did I like something you said that was retweeted or did someone #FollowFriday you or otherwise recommend that I follow you? Someone should make an app that figures this out for us. Tracks the first mention of another user by your handle and treat that as first contact.

That’s where I find myself as I think back at Skylor. I feel like we have been following each other on Twitter for years, yet I cannot for the life of me remember how we met. At the time Skylor was living in Washington DC and I was visiting Landon somewhat regularly there but we never met on any of those trips.

After years of talking to each other online, we finally met in person on my last day in Orlando.

Corey and I headed to Hue Restaurant just on the outskirts of Orlando’s downtown area where we anticipated the arrival of Skylor. Upon his arrival our waitress turned on her best awkward turtle. Whether she was standing silently behind Skylor or giving each of us multiple sets of silverware, girlfriend was hilariously awkward.

That isn’t to say she wasn’t great. She was a great waitress, and the food was great. I had a tuna and fresh greens salad with a lemon vinaigrette dressing. Corey had a delicious-looking burger and Skylor had an interesting curried chicken popover sandwich. I use the word “sandwich” liberally here. There were no complaints as we devoured our lunch so it must have been pretty damn good.

One of the disappointing things with meeting your Internet friends in real life is when they turn out to be freak shows, creepers or otherwise unfortunate. Not only does it make that meetup, whether it be lunch, drinks or dinner, incredibly awkward, it makes going public about your time together uncomfortable. You want to be honest with your social audience but you also don’t want to throw this other person under the bus. There is also the rare chance that the other person is actually a serial killer so care must be taken in recounting your time together.

After just over an hour with Skylor we parted ways, he back to work, Corey and I back to the apartment. It was on the walk back to my car that Corey and I came to the conclusion that Skylor was pretty awesome. He is authentic, interesting, driven and someone that makes you laugh without really trying. With great stories, a quick wit and friendly personality, there really wasn’t anything not to like.

He’s one of those people that you immediately feel like you could be best friends with. I only wish that we had be given more time to hang out, unfortunately this trip just didn’t provide that luxury.

There is always next time though. It looks like I will be heading back to Florida sometime this fall. Next time, we will plan things out a little better. Plus Skylor promised me a few movies nights. 😀

Follow Skylor at Twitter and check out his Tumblr blog, Skylor.me

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