Little Elisa Has Friends

October 28, 1994
Me and My friends go to school but some times wer abset and some times wer not abset.

February 8, 1995
Aaron is funny because he was born funny.

May 10, 1995
I was teaching Callie spanish like gato and perro.


I still have friends! Not the same ones, though. In fact, I can't even remember who Aaron and Callie were. Weird, huh?

Friendships are kind of weird in general. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about our high school buddies and where they've ended up. We laughed at how we all made the cliche "Other people may drift apart, but WE never will!" vows at the end of our senior year. Of course... some of us drifted apart, and some of us grew closer. Some of us drifted apart and THEN grew closer again. Some of us have completely changed for the better, and some for the worse. There are those we still talk to every day and those that we haven't the foggiest idea of where they've ended up.

And that's just my friends from high school.

Oh, Facebook and Twitter give us a false sense of "keeping up" with our old pals, but people don't really post EVERYTHING on those sites (and those who do learn quickly from their mistakes). No, it still remains that real friendships come from actual interaction with each other. The fact that you can still talk and laugh with each other means a great deal more than poking you on Facebook or tweeting a "Hpy Bday Girl! <3 <3 <3" at you.

Coincidentally, I don't necessarily share these bonds of friendship only with people who I talk to in person. The "internet friend" phenomenon has certainly become more commonplace in recent years. I'd be a liar if I were to say that I don't have or that I've never had internet friends. In fact, I've got some internet friends that I tell more personal information than I do to some of my real life friends! (Check out @hugparty on Twitter, she's amazing). I find it fascinating that such a strong bond can be made just by divulging information and sharing jokes and moments, that isn't even recreated with all the people you meet in your day-to-day life. And with programs like Skype and Ustream, the ability to videochat leaves you with a feeling that is almost as good as a face-to-face conversation.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think that videochatting can ever be a sufficient replacement for a face-to-face interaction. There are things that the camera won't pick up: entire body language, smells, certain lighting (let's be real-- webcams aren't the best in photographic technology). But they do allow you to see things like facial expressions, which gives many more clues to a person's feelings and reactions that just text in a box or even just a person's voice can.

No matter how we come to have these friends, there's no doubt that they're important facets of our lives. Through these friends we live and grow. For some, their friends are a second family. In any case, I'm pretty sure that we can all agree that when you've found an awesome friend, it's something you cherish.