When Jake and I bought tickets to go to West Palm Beach, Florida, I emailed the three people I'd love to meet.

The next day, on Aim, I asked Rony if he was sure he'd like to meet us.

He said, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Sometimes people don't like to meet web-people."

"But I'm not just a web-person, I'm person-person, too," he replied.

Which of course made me laugh.

I've met web-people before. By web-people, I mean people whom I first interacted with over the web. Each time I hung out with people whom I'd conversed on the net with, I worried that we might feel awkward when the opportunity for face-to-face interaction arose.

But I never did.

The fact is, as many impostors as there may be on the web, every person I ever met was more real than most people I call friends today. The web creates a barrier through which people feel comfortable releasing their true self. It takes the place of the mask we wear in our day-to-day interactions. This causes the conversation to be more real, deeper and accelerates the friendship process. By the time you meet the person, you already know so much about them that it's nearly impossible not to get along.

But none of this prepared me for how easy it would be for Jake and I to hang out with Daphna and Rony. We met at 5pm on Saturday afternoon and chatted till after 10pm. Conversation flew like water, not even one single awkward silence in five hours.



We then coaxed six into meeting with us at 10pm on Sunday evening. Here's a person whose name I didn't even know until a few days ago, but whose life I'd followed for months. Someone who helped me do a lot of soul-searching. Another encounter that surpassed our already high expectations.

As if we hadn't taken up enough of their weekend, Rony and Daphne met up with us once more on Monday to introduce us to the pleasures of Cuban cuisine. And it really wasn't spicy! They were way too kind and generous. It was as if we'd met long ago.

The great thing is that, to me, Daphne, Rony and Six are no longer web people.

They are real and I have the pictures to prove it.

Previously? South Beach.