Friendship is the Best Ship of All

Everybody needs a cheerleader!

Everybody needs a cheerleader.  Darla has been my cheerleader throughout most of my blogging life.  She has pimped me out many times, entered me in contests, and has always assured me that I am good at what I do.  She is someone who I really think is a great friend.  I was very excited when she jumped up in a hurry to join my guest bloggers week!

Darla’s blog is Mom’s World.  She shares little bits of her life, some of it funny, some of it touching, some of it serious.  It is always entertaining.  Please go check out her blog and tell her I sent you!

Here is a bit about Darla:

Mom of 2, a boy and a girl ♥ Wife since 2000 ♥ Daughter ♥ Granddaughter ♥ Sister ♥ Auntie ♥ Cousin ♥ Niece ♥ Friend ♥ I like my eggs over-hard ♥ I love music but I hate Beyonce ♥ My favorite band is Incubus ♥ I bite my nails when I’m nervous ♥ I pretend to be crafty ♥ I am a football (Vikings) and baseball (Giants)fan ♥ I like to play Bingo and bargain shop at Thrift Stores ♥ I like tattoos and want more, especially a butterfly ♥ I love ice cream ♥ I like daisies and roses ♥ I have anxiety, and my biggest fear is death and flying ♥ My favorite Disney movie is “Alice in Wonderland” ♥ My favorite actors are Leonardo DiCaprio and Jason Bateman ♥ My favorite actresses are Rachel McAdams and Ashley Judd ♥ I love love.

And now, without further ado…

First off – I just have to say THANK YOU to my homegirl Sarah aka The Sadder But Wiser Girl for allowing me to be a guest post-er on her fantastical blog!

It’s amazing how quick humans can form a bond with someone. Especially in today’s world where there is more discussion over electronic means than in person.  When I started this blog back in November, I never imagined that I would meet so many awesome people and actually become FRIENDS with some of them! Like, literally “you-know-the-names-of-my-children” friends! Sarah especially, is one true friend. She is so honest and genuine and has this killer sense of humor (which you all see in her blog!).

Being an adult in today’s virtual society, I feel that forming friendships over the ‘net is just as beneficial mentally as an in-person friendship. Now – before everyone gets all worked up over this….being this is my personal opinion and opinions are always evolving, I do feel that the friendships formed really are through common bonds that people share – in person or virtually.

I’ve been a MySpace-er, Twitter-er, Facebook-er and Blogger. I have never really ‘met’ anyone on MySpace or Twitter, but I have ‘met people on Facebook. The majority of the people I ‘met’ were really out to get “friends” for the games like Farmville and Words with Friends. Those, obviously, are not really ‘friends.’

However, as a Blogger this has been the one is where I’ve actually been able to really feel a connection with people. Making myself open up about my personal history and present life has allowed the opportunity to ‘meet’ people who share the same experiences or feelings or sense of humor or just really connect with my personality.

There is this community; fellow bloggers who, like you, open themselves up. You find similarities in life stories, personalities, lifestyles, etc. You’re sharing your feelings you hide from your family because, hey, maybe they understand.

Not only that, but its so opposite from meeting a person, say, at school. You’ve likely never seen them, so if you’ve made any judgement of them, its on the contents of their blog or something along those lines. Your first judgments are on their interests or their personality.

Sure, there are drawbacks. You don’t get the facial clues, you don’t get to laugh at little quirks in their accent, but its just as valid in a completely different way.

It takes time to work up to even hearing a person’s voice. Everything you know of them prior to this point is (Unless they post pictures of themselves) their personality via what they’ve written. And I think that’s kind of beautiful.

Your first phone call, skype chat, or whatever, is like a brand new first meeting, but you’ve already got all this chemistry and friendship behind you. You start fitting the way you have thought of them in with how they look and sound and you’re getting an even fuller picture of them.

And by then, you’re so much closer. You add the intimacy of voices to the the thoughts and feelings you’ve already been sharing. And you KNOW them, even if you’ve never been within 100 miles of them.

That’s my opinion….what’s yours? How do you feel about internet friendships? Give us a comment and let us know!

xoxo,

D

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