A love letter to my virtual friends

Dear [you know who you are],

[snipped from here]

Thank you.  For your friendship.  You have made me laugh and cry and rage and roll my eyes.  Even though I've never met you.  Thank you for sharing your stories with me, and for appreciating and caring about my stories.  Thanks for buoying us up, and wishing us the best.

When Ean and I started our blog, we had no idea what this might become: what relationships would develop out of it.  Funny, because - can't remember if you already know this - Ean and I actually met online.  I think probably I fell in love with Ean before I met him face-to-face. I should have guessed that I could, and would, make true friends online.

My virtual friend.  In the "real world," I talk to face-to-face friends, and I start to tell a story about you - about something that you did, or said, or learned.  "My friend," I begin, but then I stutter a bit, and I feel like I need to explain - "I mean, she's a virtual friend - I know her through her blog, and we chat through email and on facebook...."

I actually looked up "virtual" in the dictionary - in the Collins Dictionary (which I like primarily because Collins is my maiden name).  "Virtual" is defined as "having the essence or effect but not the appearance or form of." Well, yes, that's it, isn't it?  With you, my virtual friend, the form is a bit off, and it makes me stutter.  But we share the essence of friendship, and I am getting all the beneficial effects of said friendship.  I'm going to stop worrying about what it looks like.

Virtual doesn't, at all, mean "not real."

(virtual) XXOO -Jane
__________________________________________________

Sarah, one of our virtual friends, virtually interviewed us for her blog.  She asked us insightful questions about our "end of cruising" decision, and then she wrote a post about it. The best part: we got to sit on her virtual couch in Brisbane, Australia, during our virtual chat.  It was awesome.

Click on over to Blue Water Dreaming to read the interview: More JOY Somewhere Else.