Illustration Friday: Friendship

Can true friendships form over the internet? 

I believe so.  Each and every day I am warmed by the company of cyber friends from all over the world.  We check in with each other daily, dropping a friendly comment here and there. We are each other's sounding boards when the real world (you know the one....the world that lives outside of our computers) is treating us unjustly.  We have inside jokes that make us laugh and giggle.  We admire each other's passions, interests, hobbies.   We lend a word or two of encouragement and support when needed. 

We're everything to each other, and yet we exist in such an impalpable state.  My cyber pals live in a parallel world, a nebulous place that I can't see or touch, and yet I consider many of them my true friends.  How can that be?

You see, this thing called the internet, it has the power to unite people of similar interests.  In the real world, I can ramble on and on about knitting or crocheting or Photoshop...and frankly, very few folks out there in the real world (my real world anyway) get me the way my cyber friends do.  Oh my real life friends are plenty and pure, and I love them dearly, but here in cyberspace there are people who truly appreciate my knit purl, knit purl.  They applaud a project completed or an uploaded illustration.  They're happy when I snag a great deal at Michael's.  They're great friends, those cyber folk, and somedays I can't wait to log on and browse through their blogs to catch up. 

Had the internet not intervened, my daily life would have been empty of dozens of web friends. They would have been non-existent!  Imagine that!  I can't!  Just this afternoon I spent several hours chatting with online friend Yvonne.  I live in the states and she in the Netherlands.  We know each other only through our websites and e-mails, and yet when we connected over the phone, we gabbed like old friends.  Like true friends.

So thank you, thank you internet!  And thank you to all the friends I've made over the years through this site!  Thank you for your kindness, your warmth, your feedback, your sincerity, your strength, and your support.  You guys ROCK!

Comments

[hannah]

my sentiments exactly! thank you leslie for putting words to the feelings i have been having the last few months. i didnt realize i had a crafty side until i stepped into this community, and i am so much the better for it. thank god for cyber gal-pals!

[Yvonne]

I never felt so comfortable chatting with someone on the phone I never met eye to eye. Thanks so much for giving me a call, I went to bed really happy and blissful LOL. My real world friends appreciate what I do but are still almost wetting their pants when I pull out my knitting project, they don't really get it. It's so easy to talk with you girls about those things. I can't imagine a world without my cyber crafty friends YAY to that! Your illo is just perfect Leslie.

[rowena]

Brava!! Very well said. And a very fitting illustration as well. :-) I for one will never *diss* the power of the internet...that's how I met my husband!

[Karen]

I couldn't agree more! :D

[erika]

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. leave it up to you to write something that almost, ALMOST, made me tear up. caught me by suprise. sneaky booty.

thanks for your friendship, you have been an awesome find. :)

[papunella]

I really like your illo-style, it´s adorable, but your interpretation scares me a bit. I´m an internet-youngster and I am not (yet) used to the whole thing. Of course I enjoy the possibility of communicating with people who are sharing my interests. In this point I agree with you, it´s great to share your thoughts beyond borders. This is one kind of relationship, a very inspiring one to my mind. But I couldn´t imagine life without a friendship, where you can see and feel each other. I guess that´s why your picture stirred me up. Nevertheless your words really touched me, and I am really surprised, that a special kind of friendship works virtually well. For me I will see, what internet brings. Lot´s of new thoughts, that´s for sure...

[patty]

right you are! fantastic illo and words, patty

[Lori-Lyn]

Yes! I was thinking this same thing. Well said.

[Milly]

Very cute illustration. I'm just getting into this whole cyberspace thing with my blog. I love reading your web site and all the others, too. Friendship rules!

[alexis]

Awww... what a great illo! I couldn't agree more. The internet with all of its faults has a way of making the world just a little bit smaller. It's enabled me to make some special new friends like you!

Happy Friday!

[ani]

Thank you for putting it so nicely.

[Charla]

Awww...that was really sweet! I feel the same way. There are things that real world friends just don't understand like "interweb" friends do. You put it into words (and illo) very well. (and thanks for the tag...it was fun!)

[Giao]

I couldn't agree with you more, Leslie! It's been a stupendous year of meeting new friends and getting to know people who share the same passions! (Crafty blogofriends, unite!).

Sweet illo. Well-stated sentiment. Thank you!!

[Kathleen]

What a sweet illo...and well said! Just a few weeks ago Jess was telling me about how well her and Hope hit it off on the phone too when they were chatting about our collective souls project. :)

[thesoulofhope]

Oh Leslie, what a wonderful, sweet post. I agree whole heartedly!

[thesoulofhope]

P.S. I love how you put your page and Yvonne's in the screens to illustrate what you wrote!!

[justJENN]

HA. Just last night Kyle was like, "you're a nerd. you have internet friends." I told him to shove it.

[Marieke]

Leslie I couldn't agree more, this is so exactly the way I feel too. Some of my best "real-life" friends have computers and even internet but somehow they haven't got a clue how to use it.

Send them emails and they don't reply, tell them about the bloggin and they don't understand. Sometimes it's pretty frustrating to be surrounded by people that don't understand a thing about what keeps me busy.

So hurray for syberpals!

[Marieke]

P.S.

Big compliments on you illo!

[violetismycolor]

love the illo and agree with you completely on the internet friends thing...my Portland friends kind of look at me funny when I say something about reading a cyber-friend's blog. They just don't understand how one could make a connection with someone without actually seeing, touching, hearing them...

[Rachel]

Just as I was getting ready to comment on this great post, my husband said to me, "Don't you get bored just sitting and looking at that computer? I think it's a drug!"

"As a matter-a-fact no! I have something to read to you!" and I read him your post. I told him I felt just like you. He laughed and said I don't get it.

Hence... my syber, blogging, crafting, illustrating, gabbing, buddies.

It's ok with me if other people don't "get it" I get it and I love it. Thanks for the post Leslie!

[jes]

Oh man! I just love this post...and you know why! I also love all of the girl's comments!

I am in total agreement here! Wait til' you read my little letter to everyone in the journal!

Love 'ya Sweetie!

[Joe]

Thank you for puting into words how I feel. No one seems to understand around my home! I don't no what I would do without all my cyber friends. Have a great weekend!

[Marilyn]

You nailed it perfectly, Leslie...with your words and your illo. So very true. Remarkable...but true. :)

[frecklegirl]

Here Here!

:)

It is always funny when you talk to people about friends you made through your blog, etc... They always look at you funny! I always feel like I have to defend myself- "No, they are really cool!" "No, they aren't stalkers or weird people!"

Oh well!