Ahhhh texting, the most commonly used means of communiction for this day and age. But what happens when the person your texting isn't who you thought they were? I recently had the pleasure of finding out just how interesting this very thing could be when I received a text message from a person I wasn't sure if, or how, I knew them. The conversation began like this:

hey, this is kaitlyn whats up

My first thought here was which Kaitlyn is this, as I'm friends with several. Or perhaps this is one of the new gals attending our church I haven't had a chance to meet yet. Not wanting to be mean by simply stating "Who is this?" I wrote back:

Ummm Kaitlyn who? :0)

She replied with her last name (which I won't post) and lol.

Great, now I had a first AND a last name, and I still had no clue how I knew this person. But I must know her, how else would she have gotten my number, right? Still going on that assumption, I replied back:

Hey! Hows it going? :0)

To which she responded with:

hey was wondering if you wanted to get together to hang out

The rest of our conversation involved setting up plans to meet at a local coffee shop on Tuesday at 1:00. I spent the next several days facebooking Kaitlyn, chatting with our mutual friends and coming to the conclusion I seriously didn't think I knew who this girl was. Not one to pass up an opportunity to visit the coffee shop and have some private writing time, I decided to go anyway and see what happened.

I arrived at our designated spot Tuesday afternoon 45 minutes early. After grabbing a steaming latte, I snagged a table facing the doorway and set up my laptop to do some writing while I waited. As I sipped my latte and hung out, I kept a keen eye on the patrons going in and out of the building, looking for anyone who vaguely resembled the picture of Kaitlyn I saw on facebook (isn't the Internet a lovely thing?). At 1:00, a younger woman came in and stepped up to the coffee counter, barely sparing me a glance in passing. Something was vaguely familiar in her face and I had a feeling this was the Kaitlyn who'd been texting me. The problem was, I was now 100% certain I didn't know her and that she'd got my number by mistake.

So now what? All awkardness aside, I didn't want to march up to her and ask if she was Kaitlyn. Instead, I waited while she got her coffee and took a seat two tables away from mine, setting up her own laptop. I noticed she pulled her cell phone out and glance at the screen, a small frown on her face before she took a quick scan of the nearly empty coffee shop. I'm guessing she was looking for her 1:00 coffee partner. Wasn't she in for a surprise.

Pulling out my phone, I sent her a message:

Hey it's Amy, are we still on for coffee today?

Shortly after pressing send, I saw her eyes dart to her phone and she picked it up, typing away on her keyboard. When I received her message stating she was there, I knew I had my girl.

It was now or never. Leaning over, I asked, "Excuse me, but are you Kaitlyn?"

She nodded her head slowly, looking at me like I was a stalking predator. Which was kind of comical, considering she'd started this whole fiasco. I smiled, saying, "My name is Amy, I'm your 1:00 coffee coffee date. I'm the one you've been texting with. I think you got my number by mistake."

Her mouth dropped open and she snapped her phone up, going through her text message history and darting glances in my direction. Finally, she replied, "I thought I was texting my friend Sarah. That's so funny, you sounded just like her!"

"Nope, it was me, but I don't think your friend Sarah is coming today, sorry," I replied.

She thanked me for saying something and appologized for the mix up. She left a few minutes later.

The moral of my story? The next time you get a new number and send a message to that friend, make sure you identify THEIR name before assuming you have the right person. Trust me, it'll save you time (and $15 in coffee and lunch) in the long run.