Oh, thanks for this! This reminds me...
So... where do I start?
So my former boss of my current job (his name is Dom), left to move to Seattle with his wife (who got a great job with Disney).
So, me, him and his wife all used to play an MMO called EverQuest (I didn't play with Dom and his wife, we just all played the game).
So a group of people brought the original EverQuest back (unofficially), and so Dom was like, "Let's play!"
So Dom, his wife and myself started playing - they brought in friends (Anita, who had never played) and Kara (who used to play).
Anita also lived in San Diego, Kara somewhere in the midwest. So there was many weeks (once a week) where we'd all jump on and play.
So I got to "know" Anita and Kara through gaming with them (using Discord to speak).
Fast forward a year, I run into Anita at a Brewery and we chat for 5 minutes, first and only time I had met her in person, up to this point.
Fast forward a few months, and she posts a photo of her at a local Brewery called "Battle Mage" where it's all D&D themed - and for the first time, she had played D&D that night.
I saw the DM screen and pointed out, it was the same DM screen I got for Christmas (but mine was customized with my name on it).
So then she said, "Oh, so you just volunteered to DM a game?"
And I immediately jumped at the chance -
And almost immediately regretted it - all the people she invited were all first time to D&D. (And Anita herself had only played D&D once before!)
Everyone's impression of D&D was going to be on me... which was extremely intimidating.
Not only that, the majority seemed to be women. I get that more and more women play D&D... but, it still intimidates me because I don't know what they expect.
So I immediately flipped through the monster manual and made up a story.
We gathered and played - and while everyone was rolling up characters and I was answering questions - it was very much like the movie MAVERICK (the one with Mel Gibson) where he promises to lose, and during that time he's learning all of their tells... I did the same thing... I listened and learned each of their sense of humor... and knew that I had a group that would be very fun to DM for.
What I did not anticipate was HOW much they got into it.
They were literally enthralled - and Miranda was so deep into the story and the plight of the old man I had used to start their adventure...
It was one of the coolest moments. To be a story teller, a DM for everyone's first time exposure to D&D (except Anita who had played the one time before at Battle Mage), and to have all of them knee deep in the story and their characters.
I don't think any of them understood that there was no real "limits" to their characters - they could do, and interact with whoever - or whatever they wanted - and me, as the DM had to have the answers to each of their actions. They couldn't understand how I had done that, and I said, "I make up responses depending on what you do." And they were all like, "But you didn't pause - it's like you knew everything we were going to do."
It was incredible.
How cool. Now I wish I could DM. (I only DMed once, and that was with a pre-built 3.5ED adventure, running for one player and me). 
