Technological Friendships

Those of you who know me well, or who have been reading here for a while know that my closest friends are scattered around the planet.  It's a rather inconvenient way to conduct friendships, when you can't sit and sip tea together, and give and get hugs.  But, we make it work, thanks to technology.

Yesterday I spent two hours talking to one of my closest friend on skype.  We even had video.  Most of the time we can't be together in person, and, as we talked, we were actually experiencing two different days.  It was Thursday afternoon for me, and Friday morning for her.  But, thanks to skype, we shared a meal - I'd just finished lunch, and she was having a late breakfast, and we hung out and laughed for two hours or so.

And, one of the things we talked about was this - how thankful we are for technology and the way it allows us to maintain friendships.  We can email and know that the other is going to get the message the same day.  We can use text messages or facebook.  We can phone and skype and know that we'll have a decent connection - the ability to hear each other and maybe even see each other.

And I'm so thankful for that.

Thankful that I can share the day to day stuff of life with my dear ones who are so far away.

Thankful that I can quite literally have a coffee date with a friend on another continent.

Thankful that technology lets these far away people that I love stay in contact with me, and me with them.

It means a lot when your dearest ones are scattered primarily at great distances from you, to know that there is a way to stay more easily connected.

I'm thankful for it.