My Imaginary Friends

Last weekend, I went to Washington, DC to meet my imaginary friends. I had met these women on my Babycenter birth board; they all had babies born or due in May 04. Gradually, as we got to know each other, we formed a smaller, nonpublic board. Finally, last weekend, I got to meet some of them. We were all a little nervous. What if we didn't like each other in person? What if one of us was actually a 50-year-old serial killer?

In the early days of the Internet, people were afraid would lead to greater social fragmentation--people sitting alone in front of their monitors. In some ways, this may be true. But it's also a force that brings people together. If it wasn't for the internet, I wouldn't have gotten together with women from Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Michigan, Maine, and Arkansas. No one turned out to be a serial killer--or if they were, they controlled their tendencies for the weekend.

I was a little embarassed to tell people I was flying across the country to meet internet friends. In fact, I flew into Philly so I could see some real-life friends first and help justify the expense of the trip. But now that we've hung out together, I can drop the "internet" prefix and simply call them friends.