Online Friends Are the New Pen Pal

Did you ever have a pen pal growing up?

I had two. One, a girl from Russia that I think my mom found through some kind of service that paired people up. She and I must have both gotten bored because it didn't last more than a few letters each way. The other was a good friend in fifth grade who moved to Kansas. Her name was Kathryn Brown (and if you're out there, let's get back in touch!) but in our letters, she was Nefertiti and I was Wolfe. (I really should write about my wolf-obsessed period, notably when I thought I was turning into a werewolf, or maybe just wanted to.) I loved our letters and was sad when they fizzled out.

For the first years people really began using the internet and email, I called email the whore of communication. It was cheap and easy, I argued, and real friends used letters. I have boxes and stacks of letters from the time I spent abroad in England, and also my time in Texas. Letters revealed who my real friends were.

Now? I'm super behind on thank-you notes and those are the ONLY letters I've written. In, like, years. Email is how I talk to most people and I prefer it even to the telephone. (Partially because phones sometimes bring out my awkward, and partially because there is always at least one child banging on a drum in the background.) I miss letter-writing, and yet, I have found a new sort of twenty-first century pen pal: it's the online friend.

I've picked up a few of these this year, and I'm going to write about them here. I doubt that I will meet them all in real life--maybe none of them. I do know that I love our comments, emails, and sometimes even online chats. Kindred spirits through Twitter? Yup. It's true. Here are just a few of my online friends.

Cat from Mom on the Range
I don't know when we upgraded from comment love to chatting online, but we are one step away from video chat or a google hangout. (How does that even work?) We talk writing and faith and laugh about things that would totally not convey in a post. She lives on a farm in Kansas with two little girls and I will totally be hitting her up for tips on taking care of girl children. Oh, and have I mentioned her photos? Amazing.

Peach from 50Peach
When I first "met" Peach, she didn't even have pictures of her beautiful face on her blog. It was anonymous, and on Instagram, where we connected really well, it was mostly photos of her legs in running gear or her amazing paleo meals. She is an insane lady--doing CrossFit like a hoss and eating clean foods that look amazing. Most recently she headed out to the West Coast to hug the giant sequoias, part of a life list she wanted to accomplish.When I read her blog, I feel braver and more adventurous. I also feel a little like I should stop eating this piece of cake. Then I decide to live vicariously instead and I eat the cake while looking at her roasted veggies on Instagram.

Megan from Love Letters 7.10
I feel like Megan and also her sis-in-law Brie are like my Twitter cheering section. Whenever I post things, the two of them are re-tweeting, favoriting, and replying. It's the best. Megan has lovely, lyrical posts on life on a ranch with a large extended family and also taught me the perfect way to cook bacon. Yes, I tried it. And it rocks.

Weirdly? I think we all connected via Yeah Write, then fanned the online friendships into flame via Twitter or Instagram. This does mean, however, that you should probably go check out Yeah Write. You'll read some lovely things and maybe make some real (online) friends.