Bravery

Here's a couple of awkward moments that have happened as I have made attempts to be brave.  As you read these, the words "bless his heart" will probably come to mind.
My first one is not a very graceful or brave moment.  I have a coworker who has a gay best friend.  He's told me a lot about this gay best friend, including the fact that his friend worked at the local grocery store.  What you have to understand is that the number of people who are publicly out in this valley, are slim.  I'm not even numbered among them.  I decided I wanted to meet this guy, so I went to the store, and there he was in the baking aisle, talking to another customer.  So, I make my way up to about where he is, and then, freeze.  I don't remember how to say anything, and our eyes meet for a second, and I'm feeling my stomach plummet, because I literally have a total of zero experience attempting to flirt with other men.  We look away from each other.  My hands reach compulsively for a cake mix, and he begins to walk away.  I'm screaming at myself to introduce myself, but my feet are turning and walking me to the check out, with a cake mix in hand.  To this day, I have gone back several times, but never had an opportunity like that one.
Then there was today.  Over the weekend, listening to General Conference, the thought kept coming that I had already made a decision about whether or not I was gonna keep living in the constant discomfort of dishonesty, so I made the decision Sunday that today I would go to my campuses L.I.F.E. (Love is for Everyone) meeting.  Class ends, and I find myself at the student center, a couple of feet away from the room it's supposed to be held in, just sitting on a couch, trying to find the courage to go.  There's still a half hour before the meeting starts, so I plug in my iPod, and just try to find my most encouraging music.  Finally I get up the courage to go in, and it's totally empty, except for some guy.  I think about slinking back out, but this is the LGBT office, so I decide that there's no harm in asking if this is the L.I.F.E. meeting.  He tells me they went into another room, so I go in there, and end up asking the Asian Student Union if they're L.I.F.E.  The weird part is, when I looked in, my first thought was "whoah, there are a lot of gay Asians at this school." My first thought after leaving the room was "Well, that was by far the easiest coming out experience of my life."