Our Online Friends: How Great They Can Be.

Online friends can become a part of our extended family. I have been on one site for at least six years now and some of those people are as close to me, as I am to members of my own family.

We share our thoughts and feelings on what is going on in our lives. We prop each other up when needed. We cheer when someone has something joyous to share. There are some people that we even tell what we truly think about what they have posted. These people are our true friends as they take what we say, because they care about our opinions. The nice part is we send cards to each other though the mail when we have birthdays or during the Christmas holidays.

It takes time to get to know people but once we invest the time to truly get to know who they are, we become friends indeed. It is so pleasant to me to go online and chat with a friend who might live half the world away. Someone I wish with all my heart that I could meet but know in my heart that I may never see their face.

In some cases, we get really close to some people in just a short time. I have found that this can be good and bad. It depends on the intention of the other person. I am always sincere with my intentions. However, not everyone is.

There have been a few people who broke my heart because I was lead to believe that they had good intentions of getting to know me. I would treat them like a new friend in my regular life. Then when they just disappeared, it hurt. Not saying goodbye can be sad.

However, with all these thoughts in mind, I would not take anything for my online friends. Some of them are the best. I look forward to meeting many more people who I would never have known if it were not for computers and the internet.