friendship . . .

One of my closest friends moved away. Am I upset? Am I bereft? Am I crushed. One would certainly think so, but truly, I am not in the least any of those. This recession has not been kind to her and her husband. They have moved to Tennessee to start life over again. I am happy they have been given this opportunity. Am I all that altruistic that I have no feelings of my own? Not at all.

I met Sheri on the Internet some eight or nine years ago on a scrapbook board. Despite Frank's fears of axe murderers skulking on the net, and his insistence of joining me on our first IRL meeting, Sheri was exactly who she was in text; kind, humorous, smart, savvy, caring and best of all she shared my addiction for all things paper. The only thing our marathon rounds of IM's and email did not share, was the New York accent and the twinkling eyes. I should have guessed at both.

We blurt out the same sentence at the same time, we console each other, we laugh and giggle, we roll our eyes at family antics and commiserate on child rearing, we exchange birthday presents, we know enough to blackmail each other from here to Zanzibar, we share our frustrations and joys over our morning drinks. Because, isn't that, after all, what friendship is all about? So does it really matter that we do this all through the magic of the net? I think not. Someone once scoffed at the idea that a cyber friendship had value. I beg to differ. I am blessed that I have found this friend. That she lives not around the corner but miles and miles away makes no difference. Not to me. Not to Laura and Leonore, Gracee and Marg, or Chris and Sue.

So Sheri has moved away and while I am not upset, I cannot wait until their Internet service is hooked up once again. I need to hear the details of the trip, the ins and outs of the new home, the minutia of the life I share with my friend.