Friends. friendship, and the internet

We often take it for granted, but the internet is an amazing thing. And so is making friends for a lifetime. Just sometimes, you make a good friend over the internet, from the other side of the world. You may never ever meet, but you know that person would be there for you if you were in trouble. It started with my bike forum, and has lasted almost twenty years. I've 'watched' his three daughters grow into beautiful young women, and shared the highs and lows of his job climbing telegraph poles in the outback

Over the years, I've made many friends through my love of motorcycles - shared interest and all that. But I've made many, very good friends, through using forums and social media on the internet. Strangely though, some of the closest have been with people from my husband's forums, rather than my own.

Sure, I've made a lot of long-term friendships via the Hornet's Nest, and a lot of them, I do know personally. Some, I have never met, and are never likely to. One of the sweetest people I know, is from a forum dedicated to a bike that I don't even like! Fortunately, he doesn't live too far away, so we do get to see him on a reasonably frequent basis.

Through the same forum, we made friends with a couple from Germany, who ended up coming to stay with us last summer. Complete strangers when they arrived, they left as good friends.

Then there was the gentleman from Texas. When my husband had a bad accident, and it looked for a while as though he might lose a foot, let alone never be able to ride a motorcycle again, he naturally suffered from very bad depression. This particular friend, took time out from his busy life to phone Dick in hospital - a phone call that lasted a good half hour, and completely lifted his spirits.

Friends like these are hard to come by, and should be cherished above all things. Yes, you may never meet, but they are every bit as precious as the person next door, or down the road

And infinitely more precious than some family