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| Me (wearing my "Will Work For Food" shirt from Katherine), Katherine, and Giuliana |
I realize the first month of 2012 is quickly coming to a close, but I'm still determined to share a few things about 2011 that got missed in my blogging.
First up: my visit with Katherine and Giuliana!
Katherine and I met through the DINET forum about 8 years ago. In DINET's early years, the forum was small and intimate, and I became friends with several of the women. While I no longer am active in the forum, I've kept in close touch with Katherine and a few other women. I cannot stress enough how the women I have met through DINET have profoundly impacted my life for the better.
Outside of the forum, Katherine and I began emailing frequently discovering we had a lot more in common than just ANS dysfunction. We've shared so much of our lives over the past few years. Katherine has been a major source of wisdom, patience, understanding, compassion and empathy, as well as someone I love to talk to about lots of other topics.
So, after 8 years of being in touch only through cyberspace we finally met in person! Both of us struggled early on with the idea of cyber-friendships. Were they real? Would the person be what I expected? What would it be like in person?
Katherine lives close enough to Chincoteague that she was able to come with her daughter, Giuliana (9), to visit us during our vacation. They came for dinner and an overnight.
Katherine and Giuliana were just as I had imagined they would be! It was so exciting to finally hug in person and it did not feel at all like we had never 'met' before.
The hardest part was that our visit was planned the day after Mom and I had arrived in Chincoteague, so I was feeling pretty horrible. I just wish that we had had more time together to talk face to face.
What a gift to finally meet in person! And to know that our friendship is 'real'. :) Thank you so much Katherine and Giuliana for making the drive to visit us and finally meet!
Blessings,
Emily
2 comments:
I am so glad we met and sustained our friendship over the years Emily. It means a lot to me.
I am really sorry you were feeling particularly badly during our visit, but we did get some good moments in, including a lovely dinner together. Loved finally meeting you in person, and your mom too. G loved that X-box, or whatever it is!
I'm so glad that you were able to meet Katherine and Giuliana in person! Online friendships can indeed be real, as your meeting proved. I'm so happy for you to have met such a good friend.
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