I have spoken on a real telephone with some hsbbw friends--and to tell you the truth, I speak on the phone with some of them more than I speak with friends who live in and around my "real" community. The wonderful thing about hsbbw friends is that they UNDERSTAND the wacky world of baseball that I’m in. In the small community that I call home, there is nobody who really understands…..and certainly does not understand the “sacrifices” that my family has made---from traveling to random areas to spend hard-earned time and money, to all of the injuries my children have faced…..Nobody at home understands it, especially my extended family—sisters, brother, and mother. But my friends here do.
For, you see, the friends here in cyberspace are REAL PEOPLE. I've learned that with the very first person I met many years ago. Immediately he changed from a screen name to a REAL PERSON. One of the next hsbbw friends I met I had not even communicated with---out of the blue I received a private message from her with news that she would be traveling to Chicago and was I available to hang out? We had a delightful time.
Happily, this scenario has played out many times. A screen name turned into a real person. And even though I may not ever meet them “for real”, they are real. I’m reminded of one of my favorite books, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT:
quote:"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
It’s kind of like here. It takes time to become a friend, just like in life. I am so glad that I have taken the time to know you.