Love Thursday: Honoring Virtual Friendships
A little while back on Facebook, I lamented that I had broken the lid to my sugar bowl and couldn’t find another with a slot for the spoon.
Diana of Creative Structures and the Baur B&B in Piemonte, one of my dearest friends made virtually, responded by making and sending me a sugar bowl — and throwing in an antique spoon and handmade candlestick holder and candle for good measure.
(The mimosa were from P for International Women’s Day on March 8.)
Anyone who has hung around the blogosphere has likely experienced the joy of finding a kindred spirit, someone who always manages to say the right thing when you need it, a person who inspires you by just living her life and letting you share a little a piece of it virtually, and perhaps even in person if time and money allow.
I’ve been extra lucky. I’ve found several such people, and I think of them whenever I read that Internet friendships aren’t real or as valuable as “real life” relationships.
Please.
Friendships are what *you* make of them whether you see the other person every day, once a year, or never. It is up to us how much we let others into our hearts; the physical distance between us doesn’t get a say.
Happy Love Thursday everyone, and
may you have many wonderful friendships to nurture.
29 Beans of Wisdom to “Love Thursday: Honoring Virtual Friendships”
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
Recipes
**baci**
Un bacione!!!!
Wonderful! You’re right, we are definitely blessed by our on-line friends. In fact, I don’t know how I would have made it through this last couple of years without you all! The smiles, encouragements, and reflections that my Italian expat friends (and a few elsewhere in the UK & Australia, but it is funny to me how I have concentrated on you ladies in Italy rather than folks here in France for the most part!) have shared with me have enriched my days. (And the sugar bowl is gorgeous of course and I’m so happy to get to see it!)
Una bella giornata a tutti!
Hope you’re having a great day too, Kim…loving the love fest in the comments! Yay!
I agree.
Kim is so right. I don’t know if I would have one, made the move to Rome or two, taken to my new country like a duck to water if it weren’t for folks like you, Kim and Diana.
Mwaaaaaaah!!!!!
.-= nyc/caribbean ragazza´s last blog ..An ode to one of the greatest inventions ever…Coca-Cola. =-.
That’s so sweet of her. And so true! I’ve made several virtual friends, who I then met in person and turned into real life friends.
Blogging just keeps on giving!
.-= Wandering Chopsticks´s last blog ..Ca Chien Sot Ca Chua (Vietnamese Fried Fish with Tomato Sauce) =-.
Hello Michelle,
How wonderful of Diana, a very very caring and thoughtful lady. Such beautiful ceramics and the cute little spoon too! I hope that I can get to meet Diana and lots of you in Italy…. come on Kim B.. lets get saving and make a date..!!
I am in total agreement with Kim. I have been blessed with so many on-line friends, and some became friends in reality!! I met so many wonderful ladies in Paris through the blog.. and Kim B is one of them 🙂
I have had lots and lots of support from you all in the last three years, it is amazing. I also love reading about your lives, Gratitude Fridays, I ? Thursdays etc..
What an amazing meet-up…I’m in!!!
.-= anne´s last blog ..More photos of Port Isaac…. =-.
Absolutely! I’ve made many good friendships virtually – some people I’ve eventually met and others not. It doesn’t make the relationship any less ‘real’. The support on the web, particularly through the expat bloggers is phenomenal!
Yes, expat bloggers are definitely a unique breed, I think 🙂
.-= Alison´s last blog ..Great Expat and Travel Blogs =-.
you rock.
thanks – i needed this reminder.
you may have inspired my next (long overdue) blog post.
Looking forward to it! And by the way, when I wrote “she” above, it was an arbitrary choice…there are also lots of hes out there on the Interwebs who make me smile, and I know you know you’re one of them 😀
.-= Pete Perry´s last blog ..Auntie Em! Auntie Em! =-.
Here, here. I’d write more but must return to sick bed. So glad she made those for you. You deserve it.
xo
Boo, hope you feel better soon!
.-= Susan´s last blog ..The End and the Beginning =-.
I know that my life would be a lot poorer without the friendships I’ve made with my bloggy friends. They are the ones who stop what they’re doing to let me vent about my day or who offer a solution to a problem I’m facing. Yes, my “real life” friends do that, too, and I love them ALL for it. Friendship is friendship is friendship. Some folks can quibble over it if they want to – I just call it my great luck!!
Happy Love Thursday!
I completely agree, Katie! Thanks for sharing 🙂
.-= Katie in MA´s last blog ..Yes, I am reviewing pasta. =-.
how very lovely!!! I too have made some very real friends from the virtual ones and feel very lucky to have access to friends beyond my neighborhood!
It really is so wonderful to be able to expand our circles this way…especially for those of us who are far, far away from “home” 🙂
So well said, and so true!
Thanks Stefanie 🙂
.-= Stefanie´s last blog ..I carried a watermelon. (I carried a watermelon?) =-.
Couldn’t agree more. What a lovely gift and nice display of them and your friendship.
Indeed; I’m almost afraid to use it, Marla!
What a total doll. Sweetheart. God Bless. I know when I have wondered about blogging, SO many people have stepped up to the plate instantly. I’m so happy I jumped in. What a blessing.
🙂
A blessing indeed…so glad you jumped in too 🙂
.-= julie @ jbulie’s blog´s last blog ..Brad, Angelina and kids graced us here in Bologna on Sunday =-.
Very cool. You can’t beat a gift made with those great intentions.
Makes you wonder what else you can break and see what you get? Car? House?
Haha, actually another friend sent me her old digital camera once…I still use it! Bloggy friends rock!
Couldn’t agree more! The internet is an amazing thing and through it I have met and made the most amazing friends that I never would have known existed, just running around here in northern California! It is truly a wonderful experience when you fall into a blog o chat group and find someone who is just as passionate about the things you are passionate about, and who touches your sensibilities with their thoughts and insights. I consider them my family and have turned many of these virtual experiences into real life meet ups.
But, if not for my mouse and love of the Italian language I never would have met my dearest of all friends, who I now consider more of a sister to me (than my own sister!) We met by chance through a chat group, and just hit it off, and now converse every day either FB or email or skype. She lives in Garda and we send each other little gifts and such, and we stay with her family when we return to Italy. I say evviva l’internet! evviva gli amici! evviva bloggers everywhere!!!!!!
Couldn’t have said it better, Melissa, so I’ll +1 🙂
.-= Melissa Muldoon´s last blog ..• l’arte di satira =-.
You have one good and talented friend in Diana! Happy Love Thursday to all!
Indeed, and I didn’t even talk about Diana’s wonderful words that she shares with us….
I have *our* very wonderful friendship to nurture. YOU are such a jewel and I love you enormously. Somehow, time and distance have no relevance, and we connect, you and I, on innumerable levels and in countless ways.
You never fail to make me smile or warm my heart. You never cease to become dearer to me just by being yourself.
Oscar Wilde said, ‘give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth’… if the internet is our mask, then I know you so very, very well and I cannot wait to meet you in person and hug you tightly for real.
What a blessing our friendship is to me. Thank you a thousand times over for it, and for being such a tremendously wonderful and good friend.
XOXOXO
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
Aw now you’ve gone and made me cry into my cappuccino…mmm…tastes even better! Who knew? 😉 xoxo
Lovely post! I’m glad that I have had the pleasure of knowing you and hope our virtual friendship continues! 🙂
Beautiful sugar bowl, by the way.
Ditto, Melanie 🙂
.-= Melanie´s last blog ..iPhone Apps for the Italophile =-.
Couldn’t agree more! In my book, virtual friendships are the new black 🙂 I actually wrote about virtual friends a while back in the blog post called “a shrinking world”!
Love the sugar bowl, well done Diana!
Love it, Annika! Thanks for sharing 🙂
.-= Annika´s last blog ..a shrinking world =-.
How fantastic of Diana to do that for you. I think that a lot of people misunderstand blogs. I particularly like reading experiences of expats, and they don’t just have to be those who are in Italy, since they are more likely to have had or be having similar experiences to me. I think it helps when you feel supported/ understood when you post about certain things.
I wholeheartedly agree that people misunderstand blogs…it’s probably a difficult world to grasp if you’re not in it, but yes knowing there are people going through similar things, etc….priceless!
.-= Cathy´s last blog ..Birthday parties =-.
Thank -you for posting this. I cant tell you how many people say “”internet friendships “”, are not real. I have met some great friends online, and some not so great. Obviously, not so great are the “not real “fake ones! If people go into a relationship with that attitude from the get go…a friendship will never develop! BRAVO!
Attitude makes *so* much difference; you’re absolutely right! Thanks for coming by and sharing 🙂
.-= astheroshe´s last blog ..Triple Crown Gingerbread Cake =-.
Well said! Diana is a gem, how wonderful of her!
This was a very important post. I can say without doubt that right now my closest friends are the ones living in blogland. Many are overseas, or scattered about Europe, and some reside in my same city. And not all of those are expats. Tonight, reading this I see how the blog universe just got smaller.
Grazie
Eleonora
Indeed…people can say a lot of bad things about the Internet, but there’s *so* much more good, IMHO 🙂
.-= Eleonora´s last blog ..Solanum melongena =-.
I love the little gift that she sent you. Its beautiful. And I must say I have made the best of friends virtually. Most of which I have met and one in particular I got to move to Houston from her home state and now she will be joining me in studying abroad. She is like the sister I never had. I even fell in love with some (didn’t work out–whole other blog there). But I think friendship are what you make them. Thank you for the blog..
That’s wonderful, Tanisha, about your study abroad plans; how fun! Thanks so much for coming by and sharing your thoughts 🙂
.-= Tanisha´s last blog ..Tuna Pasta Recipe =-.
I can only say “wouw!” Such a nice present, what a thoughtful and talented friend!
Agreed, O!
.-= o. the expat mom´s last blog ..Miss A’s new friend =-.
She really is a one in a million! This is a wonderful post, Michelle. Thanks for sharing.
Couldn’t agree more, Rosa; thanks for coming by!
.-= Rosa´s last blog ..New Look, More Functionality & An Old Recipe For Tiramisu =-.
It’s lovely to have you in my “collection” of friends. 😀 Can I be in yours? 😀
Hee hee…you were collected a long time ago, Tina 🙂
Spot-on, as my British friends would say.
😀 Thanks!
I love this post. So true!
Glad you enjoyed, Kalee!
.-= Kalee´s last blog ..A New Venture =-.
Michelle,
Diana is a very thoughtful friend and you are a most sharing delight! The world is a much smaller place with our internet to find gems like the two of you!
Thanks technology!!!!
Leslie
Yes! Definitely thanks to technology! And Diana is absolutely a sweetheart <3 <3 <3