When I was four, I had an imaginary friend named Cindy. She was blond. That's all I know about her. She was blond, and she spoke English (I grew up in a Greek neighborhood). Cindy and I hung out till I was about eight, and moved to an English neighborhood. I'm not sure if I gave up having an imaginary friend at that time, or if she just stayed behind when we moved!

But now I'm nearly 29, and I'm surrounded by imaginary friends. That is the joy of the internet - what real life can't provide, the internet can. So I have this blog. I have my readers. I have the Cotillion. There are literally dozens of emails that fly back and forth every day between me and my "friends". Are they real friends? I mean, really? Probably not. I can email them at any time of the day or night, and they'll write back to me, but they are not the ones who will call just to check in. I may even meet a few, but my life events are only interesting to them in passing, right? It's voyeurism more than friendship. We know each other's stories, but are only there for each other until we run out of characters in the comment box.

But every once in a while, you come across a person who touches you. You make a friend, and the boundaries of real life vs. internet blur a little at the edges. You fall into their lives as easily as you would fall into a "real" friend's life. You get caught up in their dramas: their joys and sorrows. Sometimes you prefer them to those real friends, because you don't know them well enough to know their ugly habits. Once those boundaries get blurry, sometimes one of you oversteps and presumes too much. Perhaps, depending on the situation, you are forgiven. Sometimes not. Time heals. But when these people that you have come to hold as real suffer something large and devastating, you feel that pain, too. But because they are only "imaginary," there often isn't anything you can do. You can pray. You can try to reach out. But miles and boundaries get in the way. Sometimes, you just have to let them drop.

(You know who you are. If I can feel your pain, perhaps you can feel my hug.)