A Friend By Any Other Name
Dear Diary,
Your voice has never caressed my ear. My hand has never touched your sleeve. I have never had the opportunity to share a physical cup of coffee and an audible laugh with you. I have not really seen your face; the array of expressions that flow in the course of a conversation. I have only seen a frozen image chosen by you.
But I hear your words in my mind as they spill across the screen. Tidbits of your reality sent through space. Thoughts that you may not actually say if we were seated together in a café. You deftly manipulate the letters to speak your personality. You endear yourself to me with your humor, philosophies, creativity, advice, hopes and everyday happenstances. As I do to you. All within the world of adjusting letters.
It amazes me to think that I have developed cherished friendships with people that I have never met in actuality. Twitter has done this. What started to me as purely a marketing tool has garnered me a surprising and wonderful byproduct; more friends. I had expected to get along fine with the people of TwitterLand but I wasn’t expecting in depth friendships. That is what I have ended up with and I appreciate every one of you. Your jokes make me laugh, your philosophies make me think, your creativity inspires me, your advice helps me, your hopes are tangible, and your life happenings relate to my own. Your blog gives me perhaps more insight into you than if we interacted in person.
Some people would argue that cyberfriends are not real friends. I disagree. You are all real people living real lives somewhere that is real. You are not pretend like a character in one of my stories. Our friendship is merely on a different plane. Perhaps there is a dash of fantasy thrown in, but what’s wrong with that? A definition of friendship is “A person attached to another person by feelings of affection or personal regard”. Yes. You are my friends and I am happy for that. And so, cheers to you! *Raises coffee cup in tribute*
Dear Diary .... by Kellianne Sweeney 