Most people have their best friend story. The "we met in kindergarten and never spent two days away from each other after that" story. You meet your best friend and stick together and that's the end of it. That's the way it goes. Personally, meeting my best friend was a little bit different.
I started my Tumblr blog around 2013, as a place where I could post my creative writing, such as poems and excerpts from stories, while getting a small amount of honest feedback from people my age. After following a few other photography and creative writing blogs, I began to gain more and more followers who interacted with me through the website. One of my most active followers was a girl named Ryan from Arizona. I had only known a username and a tiny avi picture, but we spoke once in a while through the websites messenger app. We re-blogged each others photos and that had been my tumblr experience. About a year in, a got a message from her complimenting something I had posted earlier that day. We got to talking and that conversation lasted a number of hours. After a few days, we had exchanged numbers and began to text each other.
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I felt it to be very comforting to confide in someone who didn't know much about the other people in my life. It was easier to be honest with someone about what's going on in your life when you can't put a solid face to a name. After texting, we decided one day to Facetime each other, and when the same face that was in the avi popped up on the screen, you can imagine how relieved I was that I hadn't been speaking to a serial killer.
Explaining that someone who lived 2000 miles away was my closest friend was a strange concept to many people. My other friends had been convinced that I was being catfished by someone with bad intentions. Ryan and I talked a lot about things I couldn't tell other people. She had been the first person I came out of the closet to. After many months of an amazing friendship, we decided we had to meet in person.
This was a very bazaar thing to tell others. "My best friend is flying into New York from Arizona. No, we've never met in person. Yes, she is real. No, I don't think she is going to kill me." My friends must have thought I was insane, but then, the day came and after almost a year of waiting, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning on an extremely damp and rainy day, to pick her up from the Buffalo airport.
Seeing her at first was hard for my mind to comprehend. First of all, because she had legs. I had never seen more than the top half of her body on a tiny screen so seeing her as a walking talking person was hard for my mind to comprehend. I think part of my brain had processed her as a cartoon or a TV show or something. I hugged her, and practically shouted "You're a real person!"
Nothing was different in person after the nervous energy faded. We talked just as much, and laughed about the same things. Being that it was December, she was appalled by the cold weather. Two days later we drove to New York City and showed her Times Square. She had never been to New York before, so I made it a point to make sure she experienced all of it. Manhattan, the short drive to Canada, ice skating, all of it.
I love that I met the greatest friend in the world online. I like having a unique little story. I took a plane to Phoenix a few months ago, then drove to California to go to Disneyland. Having each other gives us both an excuse to go on a vacation twice a year. In 56 days she will be back in New York for new years, and she will finally get to meet my girlfriend. The three of us will be going up to Toronto, another place Ryan has never seen.
Having each other makes our lives a little more exciting. A little more adventurous. It's the best feeling, to know that you have someone who cares about you, even on the other side of the country. I would recommend meeting your best friend online, to anyone. Just make sure they aren't a catfish.
