Scott:
Thanks for sharing your tale, it brings back
a lot of memories of my first QSO's as a Novice.
(We could
only use CW then).
I was very nervous, slow, and had a shaky first.
I remember having to repeat words three times!

But no one ever, ever gave me any static about
it, they were incredibly patient with me.
I don't believe things have changed much in
that regard. CW is a whole different world of ops.
I remember an op saying about my awful fist:
"U HAVE A GUD FIST"
to which I replied
"RE MY FIST, U LIE POORLY, HIHI"
73, Ken AD6KA