You need to read the title in an echoing kind of way so it works right. If you are anything like me, you have lived in more than one place in your life. You develop friends in all these locations and then you move away or sometimes your friends move away to other places too. Seeing as how Star Trek has failed us and not provided the transporters as promised, this moving around stuff makes scheduling ladies night a little difficult and keeping friendships even harder!
I wanted to provide some tips for things I have done to keep my friendships strong even from far, far away!
Social Media
Most of us not living under a rock have a Facebook page. Some of us have other social media as well like Twitter, a blog, or even My Space if you are still under the rock. We keep in touch with the little events in our friends and families lives, and we don’t feel so far apart. Grandmaw in Oregon can see pictures of her new grandbaby in Florida in almost real time! Aunt June in Hawaii can see the graduation pictures from New York. This is a great method for little things, but keep in mind this is not real human contact it is ethereal sort of. I personally don’t feel truly connected through my internet friendships the way I do to my real life friends, and I know the older generations don’t embrace the new methods of communication as well as we might hope they would.
Skype
Let’s be honest this is the coolest thing since sliced bread, well maybe not sliced, but definitely toasted! You can schedule a time to get set up with your computer over an internet connection and you can see and talk to your friends and family on a video phone. Remember when video phones were thousands of dollars and we all thought it was so new age? Okay sorry my nerd was showing for a moment! I love this method of communication. I have a friend in South Carolina that has a scheduled time every Sunday morning for what we call “coffee chat”. We both get up long before our families and that is the time we get caught up on everything in our lives and bounce ideas off each other. We solve all the world’s problems in these talks, last week one hour on Skype followed by two hours on the phone. Yep we are talkers! Friendship secured!
Cards and Letters
I know in the age of the internet and all the lightning speed ways to communicate who would want to sit down and write a letter by hand even! Let’s be honest though when you get a card in the mail with a hand written sentiment that covers the entire blank area of the card it makes you smile. You know that the sender took the time to think of you and write something special . A typed and mailed letter or an email just isn’t always as personal! I fell in love with my now ex-husband through his letters back in the day about 18-19 years ago, awe 1993 those were the days. To this day I still hold a special place in my heart for the hand written thank you card and make my kids send them for all the really special stuff.
