Fangirl Friday - Online Friendship

A couple of weeks ago, as I was thinking about what I should write about for my next Fangirl Friday post, I was talking to couple of my online friends and thinking about how lucky I was for being so fortunate to have gotten to know them and having the privilege to call them my friends. Then it hit me, why not make that my next topic? Online friendship. Well, it's Friday and I want to tell you about how much I love having discovered true friendship through my computer... which kinda means that I love my computer even more than I did before.

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Who would've known that a book series I was reading a few years back, that my sister recommended to me, would be my online friendship cupid. I sure didn't. Mind you, at the time, I was loving said book series and had no idea how much disappointment it would bring me in the end (obviously, since I didn't know how it would end). So much disappointment and frustration, of having spent years reading it, that I hardly ever speak of it now after I read the final book. BUT I will always and forever be grateful for it, for introducing me to so many amazing women who shared my love for books. Women who live all around the world and I can call my true, dear, friends.

We found that online!
(Even if we had it before, we found more friends!)

But it wasn't just as simple as reading a book that made me meet all these great women all of a sudden. I needed one more, very important, ingredient. The place to meet them. While reading the aforementioned books I needed to find someone who shared my new obsession and boy did I ever, and all in one place! I was told about a fansite called Sookieverse Blog and that it would definitely be my cup of tea, so I checked it out, and before I knew it, I found myself regularly going there, reading all the fun, interesting, posts and conversation, and enjoying the hell out of it. Seriously, I didn't, and still don't, spend much time on sites/forums but I still say, and stand by it, that SVB, may it rest in peace (we said goodbye in this post), was the best online fan based community you could find. It had it all, great posts, discussions, book recommendations, squealing, humor, sassiness, respect for everyone's opinions, etc. And the cherry on top, it introduced me to some amazing women I'd never imagine would end up as some of my closest friends today and without even ever having met them.

It kinda just happened.

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."~ Mark Twain

Before I met them I hadn't given much thought to online friendship but if asked I'd have said I had some doubts about being able to gain good friends through the internet, let alone very close ones.

I wasn't sure about the whole online thing.

But the last few years have proven me wrong. So. Wrong. And I'm so happy about that!

"A friend is someone you can be alone with and have nothing to do and not be able to think of anything to say and be comfortable in the silence." ~Sheryl Condie

Well, obviously doing that online with your friends doesn't work, duh... and would come out quite silly. Not that I've tried it though, maybe I shouldn't judge it beforehand *coughs* Can you imagine yourself, sitting in your living room in front of your computer with your friend's chat window open without having anything to say and knowing your friend is on the "other line" doing the same. Or being on Skype watching each other, saying nothing. Hmm, come to think of it, silly or not, that would be hilarious! But then the we wouldn't be all comfy in the silence, I'd be laughing too much.

(Not that family doesn't,
but you get my point.)

But silliness aside, I had a point with the quote... if only I could remember what it was... kidding!

I haven't been so lucky to meet all the ladies but I HAVE met one of them and it was awesomesauce! Having her coming for a visit to my place was so amazing and we had so much fun. And for me it was like I was seeing her again after years of not seeing her. Well, after I got over the "I can't believe you're here. You're actually here!.... I need to poke you to be sure" or something like that. Yeah, I know, I'm weird. I keep telling you guys that. Thank goodness she still loves and tolerates me. And my point was that no matter if you've online friends or real life, this quote is spot on.

In fact, I know it was like that with ALL the Wenches and ladies from SVB who have been lucky enough to meet. It was an instant, magical connection that just made us feel we'd known each other for our entire lives! Maybe even in previous ones!

In a non creepy way.

"If friendship is your weakest point, then you are the strongest person in the world." ~Abraham Lincoln

They not only tolerate our weirdness and eccentricities, they celebrate and appreciate them! We've all found matching sparks of crazy in each other and encouraged one another to glow brighter.

We share book talk, life talk, family talk, tv/movie talk, hot guy talk, hot girl talk, crazy deepest darkest fantasy talk, and we never worry about being judged. We comfort, support and worry about each other in hard and/or stressful times. 

We laugh, listen to music together and in some cases even watch tv together! Why let a stupid, little, fact like not being in the same house together... or even in the same country... stop you from watching your favorite show or movie with a friend?!

And it's almost like they're sitting next to you!

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." ~Anaïs Nin

They make me better.
And I hope I do the same for them.

One of the great things about having friends from different parts of the world is that you learn so much about different cultures, first hand. I've learned that reading about that stuff in books isn't nearly the same or effective as learning about them through a person you know and has grown up in it. You learn things that gives you new perspectives that you might never have gotten otherwise. It's a wonderful thing and it enriches your life even more.

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So it was through a love of books that I found a group of some outstanding ladies and from there we've formed a wonderful, close, friendship. The different time zones may sometimes get in the way but distance is not an issue, it doesn't matter where in the world we are, we've become a daily fixture in each other's lives, talking every day (well almost every day), sharing things as pointless as what we had for breakfast to the weather, to serious decision making and venting or gushing about work or the people in our lives.

We've come to a point where we can't even imagine what life would be like without these people we met online, who fit into our lives and complete them.

That's what friends are for!

What about you dear reader, do you have online friends that you can't imagine your life without?