Isn’t it funny how now-a-days it’s incredibly common to meet people online? What was once so taboo–usually followed with a “you’re going to be murdered and chopped into a million pieces” whenever you told someone you met a person online, is now the norm.
I remember when I first started to immerse myself in the blogging community (long after I actually started blogging), I noticed some bloggers were “friends.” But they’d met through blogging. It seemed so odd to me. How could people become friends through blogging.
So imagine how ridiculous I feel now as I sit here and confess to you that one of my very best friends, the one I call my person (you know, Meredith and Christina style) is someone, cough, I’ve never actually met. I’ve never hugged her neck and we’ve never shared a pizza. In fact, the girl lives halfway around the world from me. When I’m waking up for the day, she’s winding down and getting ready for bed.
And it baffles me to think that our paths would never have crossed without the world of blogging. I would have lived my entire life without ever knowing she existed. That goes for all of you, too. There are so many of you whom I’ve come to call friends. You take the time to hang out in my little corner of the web, and we start to feel like we really know each other. We invest ourselves in each other.
And I’d never know you. I’d never know you existed. Isn’t that wild to think about? If we lived forever in the 1997 world where the internet was sort of…taboo (and gosh so new).
And now it’s practically the norm. I talk about you people. There’s rarely a story I tell that doesn’t in some way involve “one of my blog friends said xyz.” And while the idea might seem a little strange, it’s our reality, you know? You start to feel connected to the people you take the time to know–even if it’s just through a computer screen. And it’d be crazy to think that friendships wouldn’t develop.
And while it still might seem a little strange that after nearly two years, I’ve never “met” my person, our families ask about the other. Our husbands know that any big thing is being discussed between the two of us.
It’s weird when you think about it…how friendships actually happen. There are people all over the planet. 7.125 BILLION, to be specific. I once saw something on pinterest that made me chuckle but also had me nodding my head. Friendship is so weird. You just pick a person and say “yup, you.” And then you just start hanging out with them, relying on them. “I like this one.” Like picking out a sweater in a store.
And the world of the internet just expands those parameters. There isn’t a person in the world that you don’t have the chance of knowing anymore. And that’s just…really freaking cool.
I lovvvvee you so stinking much. You'll always be my person, gush.
This is so true – I always wondering the same thing before I started blogging, but read other blogs!! But now I totally get it and cant imagine you ladies not being in my daily routine!! 🙂
Yes yes yes! This makes me feel not so crazy that one of my best friends is someone I met through blogging. I'm actually going to visit her in December and I'm super excited! My hubby thinks I'm crazy and still thinks that meeting friends on the internet is weird. I hope that meeting her changes his mind 🙂
It is crazy how things have changed in the last 10 years or so with the internet and meeting people that you would have never met otherwise! I met my husband online, and I have met many local bloggers that are my real friends now! Annnnd there are people like you whom I hope to cross paths with one day too 🙂
I totally agree! I think it is so amazing that we are able to meet people this way. It's how I met my husband! I have met so many amazing blog friends, too.
And I, too, always talk about "my friend ______" and John gives me a blank stare (because he's never met any of my blog friends). I follow it up with, "from the blog!" and he totally understands.
Aw I love this post!! That's awesome that you've gotten so close with someone so far away. I'm always down to meet new bloggers and I love this community so much!! Some of my friends definitely don't get the whole "blogging" thing, but I think it's pretty awesome too 🙂
I love this! It really is so cool that there's no one you have zero chance of meeting anymore…I've never thought of it that way, but I love it. I have yet to meet a blog friend in real life (I probably would be a tiny bit afraid of getting chopped into a million pieces the first time), but I have met so many lovely people who I can't wait to meet someday 🙂
I totally agree and love this! I can honestly say that my best friends are people I've met through blogging, even though we haven't gotten a chance to meet in real life (YET). Two of them live in different time zones and one lives in a different country – but they're still the first people I want to tell any time something happens in my life, and my husband knows them all by name now, too. I don't know what I would have done without blog friends the last few years, living on this lonely island in Alaska, but I've survived thanks to people I've never "met"!
Seriously isn't that why blogging is so amazing??? I loved when I finally "met" Biana for the first time as we just picked up like we knew each other forever. I was with a girl who isn't a blogger and she like could not understand how we never met each other but yet we talk to each other every day……non bloggers just don't get it 😉
Some of my favorite people in the world are people I've met through blogging. Some I've met in person and some I only know through emails and stuff but the people and the relationships are, without a doubt, the best part of blogging. And when you do meet them, there's none of that awkwardness in meeting someone for the first time. And you just "get" each other. It's pretty amazing.
It's so true, and that's why I love reading blogs and having a blog. The internet is awesome… I've made a lot of amazing friends online (all of whom I have never met in real life) and I love it. 🙂
YES–I've thought about this recently in terms of Instagram too. People from all over the world that I'll never meet seeing and liking my pictures. And you can follow them too! It's crazy and awesome at the same time!
It is crazy to think about this. Even when I left the blog world for awhile I still checked in on people like you via twitter. I love that so many people in this community form friendships, it's just such a wonderful thing.
So true, I think about this all the time! How there are so many amazing ladies I now consider friends, people who I would feel completely comfortable with meeting up for a weekend girls trip, that I met through blogging. It's so awesome! I hope one day you and I can actually meet too 🙂
It's definitely very cool. Makes the world seem so big yet so small at the same time! Every time I want to quit blogging, it's the friendships that make me stay.
My absolute favorite part about blogging! I have been so amazed at how many incredible girls I have "met" and gotten to know through blogging!
Funny we just had a convo about this! 🙂 Happy we're blog friends! xoxo
Awwwww!! I love this!! I just started blogging and I truly hope to make friends like this through blogging!! It's so amazing that so many of you have built such awesome relationships through this platform.
-Ashley
http://beautybrain.org
100% agree with this Joey! One of my besties (who also commented here) I met through blogging and we're finally meeting in person next month. Cannot wait! Love that even though there are millions of bloggers out there it feels like such a small community at times.