I know my husband used to think that just because I’ve never met a person face-to-face, they couldn’t be a real friend. Five years later, I chat with some of my book club friends almost every day on one forum or another; we’ve gone through so much, offering advice and cheering each other on through successes and heartbreak. They are very much my friends, even if I might never meet them.
Now that I’ve been blogging, I found that this still holds true even among bloggers. The chances of me meeting some of these people are slim to none, but sometimes, the souls recognize true friends even through the Internet. Sarbear, at My Life is an Effing Fairy Tale, is just one of those who I would be glad to count among my friends, among others. We have similar tastes and outlooks on life and just clicked, albeit online, almost immediately. And she dedicated an entire post to me. She definitely knows me – maybe a little too well! Thanks, Sarbear! This definitely made my day!!
Sarbear – You totally deserve it! Between you and Ceri, I feel so completely loved and supported by my online friends.
Also, this was such a sweet post… I can't believe you dedicated an entire post to me!
Michelle, i just saw this post and I wanted to say that YES, we definitely are friends! Aw, that is so sweet of you! I love you too!
Laurel – Based on some experiences I've had with my book club friends, I agree that they are realy friendships. Someone can hurt you or help you long-distance just as well as they can face-to-face. I personally think they are a beautiful thing because they really do make the world a bit smaller.
Stephanie – I don't get to the Chi-town area as much anymore as I probably should. But we will be heading there for the Thanksgiving holidays…you are on the top of my Must-Meet list!!
Lisa – That is a very apt comparison; I like it! The funny thing is though that society in general is more accepting of pen pals than they are of online friendships, don't you think? There is more concern about identity theft and people posing as someone they are not that never really translated to pen pal friendships. Interesting…
Ceri – I do think the relative anonymity allows us to share things sooner than we would with face-to-face friends. I also think that there is a level of trust that you are who you say you are with online friends because of the lack of verbal or vocal cues that also helps solidify the friendships. (And trust me, I count you in that list too!)
I've been communicating with several online people over the past couple of years, and in September, I met up with two of them! It was great.
I posted about it on my Potpourri blog here:
http://rainysnowday.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/a-unique-journey-or-what-happens-when-online-friends-meet/
The experience convinced me that online friendships are real.
You know how I feel about this Michelle!! I count you as a very good friend of mine. Of course, I'm sure I will get a chance to meet you some day in real life. We aren't that far apart, and I know you get to Chicago-land a lot. It's do-able!
When my kids started doing myspace and Facebook, I couldn't understand how they could think of people they'd only talked to on the internet as friends. Now that I've started blogging, I get it! To me, it's like when people used to have penpals they'd never met but considered friends.
Haha! I saw that post at her blog and immediately thought of you. 😀 Sometimes it's easier talking to internet friends than real life ones because you don't feel as though there's too much judgement on you in real life. 🙂