I was on the bus on my way to work this morning
when I logged in on Facebook to see what new there was on my News Feed. I was
browsing for a few minutes but suddenly I stopped. A post by a friend of mine
made a turn.
I have been online pen-palling, blogging, chatting
for nearly 15 years. There have been several people who have just passed my way
– come and gone, so to say – but I have a few friends whom I’ve met, kept in
touch, and they are still there for years.
I do believe that one can really make true friends
online. I have a couple of friends I’ve met over ten years ago and whom I’ve
kept in touch with ever since, but whom I’ve never met in person. Yet, it does
feel that I have because we’ve been in touch for such a long time, for so many
years. There’s not just been a chance to travel to meet them, for one or the
other reason.
In the post of my friend, it was mentioned that her
long-term internet friend had passed away. This friend having passed was also
my friend since 2007. We kept in touch reading each other’s blogs, commenting,
sharing opinions in that way, and then we became Facebook friends when I
started using Facebook actively.
Even if I never met this lady in person and we
weren’t extremely close I did feel so sad and I nearly fell in tears there
sitting on the bus. I couldn’t help clicking myself on to her site and when I
saw her name and thought she was gone… it was a feeling that is hard to explain.
I have a very, very close online friend living in
the US who’s been sick for over a year now. But we still keep in touch whenever
he can and has energy to be online. Honestly, I am afraid for the day I’ll hear
about his passing. We’ve been friends for 12 years. And no, I have not met him
in person. But after all the letters written, Skype voice chats talked, good
and bad stuff shared, secrets told… he is one of my all-time closest friends.
It was just a reminder to believe how I believe. “Live
your life with no negativeness, enjoy each moment, and be happy.” Like Garth
Brooks sings in one of his ballads, “If Tomorrow Never Comes”… You never really
know.
