Monday, September 9, 2013

When Worlds Collide

The last few days I’ve had the pleasure of hosting two friends from out of state in the waning days of a fabulous Pacific Northwest summer. These friends are a delight. We laugh and chatter and share. There never seems to be a shortage of things to talk about. It’s as if we’ve known each other for years and in reality we only recently met less than a year ago...online. We were discussing how randomly we ended up connecting in the big world of social media. What if we had skipped checking the news feed at that exact moment or hadn’t ‘friended’ the mutual person that connected us all? These women have gone from ‘online friends’ to real life friends in the course of months. What intrigues me more than the successful transitions from social media relationships are the relationships that will forever only be virtual. Why is it that some relationships can move beyond the pages of social media and email while others will remain forever intangible? In some ways, relationships on the page can be more intense and emotional than the living breathing ones you can touch and feel. Why is that, I wonder? I’ve contemplated this question for weeks now. The forever virtual friendships allow us to be whoever we wish be it authentic or fantasy. Whereas the face to face relationships contain a level of accountability not necessary in virtual interactions. Does one have more or less value in our lives? Is quantifying even necessary? Sometimes it begs the question: is it a real friendship or one of nebulous fiction? Obviously every connection is unique and should be treated as such but these questions rattle around in my head from time to time and I wonder if I’m alone in the contemplation. For today, I’m going to wander out to my living room, curl up on a sofa and sip tea with my friends and enjoy a day of laughter, a few hugs and appreciate that in this big wide world the “like” button has led me to two amazing people.