@DanielleSmithTV @KatjaPresnal and myself at BWE 2009

This morning in the quiet after Jon had gone to work and before I woke the small people I read a devotional {as I do most mornings} to get my mind in the “right place” for the day.  But the basis of this devotional was how online or digital relationships don’t give people a sense or a reality of “true belonging” and that got me thinking, because that is just not fact for me.  Now, don’t get me wrong…I get that the moral of this devotional was that we {humans…duh} find “true belonging” in and from God alone, but the author spent much of her time describing how empty digital relationships left you. Let me tell you a little about the ladies who have wound themselves around my heart and the “true belonging” I found in them.

I live in a fairly rural {ok, most definitely rural} area where my personality and “self” is often not the norm.  I’m often the youngest in the crowd at KG’s school…in short I often feel misplaced like I can’t find a place to belong.  To put it more plainly I’m ‘Rock-n-Roll’ and am surrounded by ‘Country’.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I don’t fit. However, through the relationships I have formed while blogging, on Twitter, on Facebook…whatever…I’ve found my “forever friends”.

@SLPowell, @ResourcefulMom, @Teachmama, and @KTnestingspot @ Disney's Social Media Mom Celebration 2010

Women who get it, who get me.  They’re in the same place I am and they know what it’s like to juggle home life, work {out of the house and in house}, kids, husbands {who are sometimes like kids}, blogging, social media participation, school participation and everything else that goes into our lives. They don’t judge…because they’ve been there or are there now. They’re women of all shapes and sizes, they come from different countries, and have different religious beliefs…we don’t all like the same music, live in the same area {or continent}, and some of us don’t have children, but we’ve carved out a place for ourselves online and in each other’s hearts.

I see some of these ladies once a year, some more, some less, some not at all…but this doesn’t make them any less dear to me.  You see, I have found “true belonging” with them. Would I love it if they were my physical neighbors? You betcha!! But just because the majority of our interaction takes place online doesn’t deteriorate the “true belonging” we find in each other.

/end rant

I’d love to know your experiences.

Have you found ‘forever friends’ online? Where do you find your true belonging?