Real friends

This morning I was poo-poohing the idea that people on the internet can be your real friends. You don't see them, you don't talk to them, the relationship is fun but shallow and artificial - kind of like a long-distance romance. You never have to deal with them when their car breaks down or they have the flu.

Funny how this stuff works.

This afternoon I looked at the website of our local paper and saw that there was an accident at a worksite where 2 people were killed. One of my favorite bloggers' husband was there and I knew it because she had posted about his business trip.

I started shaking and my head started spinning. I was frantic, thinking of her and her little girl. Though we had met in real life a couple times, I didn't have her phone number - we had always emailed.

I emailed her but didn't know if she would answer right away.I finally got in touch with a mutual friend who could confirm that her husband was alive and well. VenturaMom emailed me back and I finally began to calm down.

Several hours later, I read another blog-friend's post about how her husband had been treating her. I grew as indignant as if she had been my own sister; I wanted to go punch the loser out.

I dunno. Either these people are real friends or I have a stupid overactive internet life. I'm not sure which.

And in other news, is there a better word than "blog-friend"? Frog? Bliend? Help me out here.