Best Friends You Haven’t Yet Met.

In seventh grade, I had a pen pal who lived in Colorado. Through our respective English classes, we wrote weekly letters to each others’ schools: What’s your town like? Do you play any sports? Isn’t my English teacher the best? (In case the letters were being monitored.) After school let out for the summer, we decided to keep writing- after all, this was pre-email (well, all but the most basic and expensive email, that is) and, growing up in Massachusetts, how else was I gonna find out about such glamorous, far-flung locations like Colorado? Even though we didn’t meet in person until high school, I had already decided that he was one of the most awesome people I would ever know.

And in Freshman year of high school, I was introduced to what longtime readers of this blog know as the very geeky, very awesome text-based roleplaying adventure/magic/kill ’em online game, the one with which I’d be obsessed for [what my college pals would tell me was] way too long. During my stint with this game, I met a guy- a kid, really- who lived in Illinois. He was just so nice and so cool and, even though my mother had a (not-so-quiet) suspicion that he was a 60 year-old axe murderer masquerading as a high school junior, I was pretty sure that this dude would always be one of my best friends. (It was reinforced, too, when he came to visit my college while I worked admissions. He wanted to see if enrolling would be a good fit for him, too. It wasn’t. Waaay too many hippies.)

And tonight, I get to meet even more of these stranger/BFF amalgamations.

When I became a blogger, I met and re-connected with a lot of great people; frequent readers, friends with whom I’d lost touch, and other bloggers. There’s something kind of special (and intriguing) about scrolling though the details of someone else’s life- and it’s even cooler when you yourself are a blogger as well. I now have a wonderful group of gal pal bloggers who know my kids’ milestones. My anniversary plans (and subsequent derailments). And why I have a terrible, awful fear of rats. I count these folks among some of my closest friends- especially since I keep up with their comings and goings (and vice versa) more than my high school and college besties. (Note to high school and college besties: Start a blog. For seriously. It will all but eradicate that late night I Haven’t Returned Her Call Yet She’s Gonna Think I Haaate Her guilt.)

So yeah, I have a trend of forming lifelong friendships with people, distance notwithstanding. Face-to-face chats notwithstanding. (And super-early-advent-of-the-internet notwithstanding. If you think it’s easy to maintain a friendship during the age of dollar a minute dial up, well then, friend- you don’t know what’s what.)

And these relationships hold up. Besides meeting some of these fabulous bloggers tonight, there are already plans in the works for future writing workshops n’ retreats n’ glorified slumber parties.

And that guy pal from Illinois? He’s easily one of my best friends and, just shy of two years ago, became Susannah’s godfather.

And as for my first pen pal, he’s still quite the awesome guy. But you know who else is awesome? His beyond-terrific wife, whom I also count as a close pal and who also happens to be a wonderful blogger. (And whom I’ve also yet to meet. YET.) Just goes to show: people who are supposed to know each other always find a way to know each other.

Also? God bless the internet.

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