Today, I Met a Friend . . .

I've always said that internet friendships are some of the best, or at least can be. You meet someone on the internet, via a joke list or just in a chat room, and you get a conversation going and find out about the person behind the typing.

Internet friendships can exist quite nicely and in the absence of much in the way of visuals, you get to appreciate a person purely on the basis of their conversation and mindset and the way they communicate with you; and in my opinion, communicating via email or chat helps you become a better communicator, because it forces you to be more precise and more literal to avoid misunderstandings. Then, when misunderstandings do occur, it forces you to be get better at explaining your points, so you can get your true ideas over to the other "intelligence" by using words -- (some people aren't real good with words, these days). At least, that's the way I look at it.

So I've many friends -- male and female -- via the net, that I've never met,yet we've become great friends, shared life stories and our humor. Sometimes we've shared photos, but mostly we share caring and share our minds.

Today... in what was almost an accident... I met one of my long time internet friends with whom I've been e-talking since probably 1996 or '97; I don't even remember how I stumbled across them -- or they, me -- but, they ended up on my joke list, then they subscribed to my Ramblings, and we became friends in spite of my babble!

You know the kind of friend I'm talking about, right? Have you ever had a friend that you could always depend on for a kind word, and if you didn't hear from them for a while you felt compelled to check on them and make sure they're okay? Or the kind of friend that when they have a personal tragedy or hardship, you can still help comfort them even though you've never seen them; the kind of friend that you just appreciate for who they are and not what they can do for you... the kind you enjoy just for their sense of humor or their insight or their ability to be real; the kind of friend from whom you have no expectation, other than being themselves... even though you'd never seen them?

Well, today, I met such a friend, whom I've known for years, but just met; and that was pretty cool. So cool, in fact, that it's made me want to meet some of my other internet friends, so I think I'll make that happen. This could turn out to be the year of the internet FRIEND!

This is a good year for it. I'll keep you posted.

Have an awesome day.

Kelvin