Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Friends

It's carnival time over at One More Thing, and today's theme is Friends. I wrote a rather long post in my head at 2am while I was up feeding the baby AGAIN, but now I can't remember any of it. Sigh.

So now I'm writing something different.

One thing my "real world" friends don't get is my relationship with my bloggity friends. I'll say something like, "My friend Soandso told me suchandsuch," and a RW friend will ask how I know Soandao. When I say, "I know her through blogging," my RW friend will inevitably give me a strange look, like I'm a five-year-old talking about her imaginary friend Princess Puffyfeathers.

But I don't care. Even though I've never met these women, I do count them as my friends. That's not to say every blogger whose blog I read is a friend, but the ones with whom I communicate off-blog, or with whom I trade lots of comments.

There's Fishygirl, who has become a good friend in the year-plus we've been reading each other's blogs. She's also a mother of four, but has two more years experience with it, so she can talk me off a ledge when I get frantic about how hard it is. Plus, she's really cool.

There's Wendi, who is one of the funniest writers I know, and who has become a RW friend to boot. Double score.

And Barb, whom I met before she was a blogger then reconnected with after she started blogging and then she up and moved to New Jersey, so now she's a bloggy friend again.

I can't forget Kate, the sponsor of this whole carnival thing. I started reading her blog last summer after MadMad (another wonderful bloggy friend) did a guest post, and Kate and I started exchanging e-mails, and one thing led to another, and now I consider her a bloggy friend. Plus, her mother-in-law makes mine look positively normal.

I'm very glad I have all these extra friends in my life - there are more I haven't mentioned because I was up with the baby all night and I haven't had my coffee yet. I love reading about their lives and getting their e-mails and sharing my life with them.

(I may read this later and cringe at what I've written, pre-coffee.)

8 comments:

Baino said...

I think we're on the same page here. I often tell people anecdotes about 'my friend in Argentina or Hungary' and their stunned that I actually have friends in such far flung places. I have a 'Wonderwall' at work which is a montage of pics sent to me by a load of bloggers, it's quite the talking piece!

Anonymous said...

Awww, shucks. It's true, though - somehow these pixels on a screen add up to something more than just words. They are friendships, and important enough to make me actively resent geography on a regular basis.

I received a lovely package in the mail today, thank you! The yarn is such a neat colorway, I don't have anything remotely like it and now I can't think why I didn't.

And we're at T-18 hours until my mother-in-law is expected to arrive.

bernthis said...

that's exactly it. They look at me like I have pretend friends. WTF? My bloggy friends are kinder to me than most people I've met "live"

Cathy said...

i do that too--talk about my "blog" friends like they're real. It's been great to "meet" people wouldn't have had a chance to otherwise--like you. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, you made me blush. I think you're damn cool yourself there, lady. One day, we'll meet IRL. I don't know when, but some day.

When I talk about my bloggy friends, my IRL friends look at me like I'm nuts, but at least my husband totally understands. I'll talk about you by name, and other bloggy friends, and at least he treats them like the real friends they are.

Anonymous said...

Oh, you made me blush. I think you're damn cool yourself there, lady. One day, we'll meet IRL. I don't know when, but some day.

When I talk about my bloggy friends, my IRL friends look at me like I'm nuts, but at least my husband totally understands. I'll talk about you by name, and other bloggy friends, and at least he treats them like the real friends they are.

Barb Matijevich said...

I love this so much. I don't think I even HAVE any RW friends up here. Maybe one or two. (But, dude, we're in NEW YAWK, not Joysee. Lawnguylun to be precise.)

And you can call me Princess Puffyfeathers any time you like.

Janice said...

I'm with you about bloggy friends --and the strange looks. I have one (in-the-flesh) friend who says things like [toss of head] "Well, I just don't have time to blaaaaahg," like it takes me more time to check up on everyone than it does her to read the NY Times (which she tsk-tsk's me for not reading every day). We all makes our choices!