About four years ago, I was spending all my money, time and energy on celebrities. I spent weekends at concerts, I spent weekdays on Twitter hopelessly waiting for replies or on YouTube watching every interview or cover they had. I know what you’re thinking… “Gosh what a waste of time!” But in my eyes, it was the greatest way to spend my days. Still to this day I don’t regret the endless hours of internet stalking, hundreds of dollars that went to merch, or the trips across the tri-state area to see or even meet my favorite people…all because of the friends I made along the way.

Through Twitter, I met an incredible group of girls. We all supported to same artist, and all lived really close to each other. They became my best friends, and my favorite people. When I started to go through a really rough time, these were the girls that I turned to. Whether it was in the giant group chat we all shared, or just for individual advice, I knew I could always reach out to someone who was willing to listen and cared about me.

Finding someone with similar interests is always a blessing, but finding someone who shares your obsessions to the same capacity as you is honestly a God-sent. When my favorite artist did something insane, I knew that my friends from home probably wouldn’t be as excited as I was. But I knew if I called one of the girls I met through him, they would be just as ( if not more) excited than me. It was a great feeling to be that accepted. Plus, I ALWAYS had a concert buddy. If a show was coming to town that none of my home friends wanted to see, I always had my girls to go with me.

These days it’s really hard to find people who understand and love you, completely and with no faults. My “fangirl” friends and I all connected because we liked the same artist, but stayed so close because we were going through the same things. You always have an empathetic shoulder to cry on, and most of the time you are getting advice from experience…not from speculation. My Internet friends understood my troubles better than anyone else could, and that’s what made them so special.

Meeting them in person was probably the best feeling in the world. Lucky for me, I was able to see them all multiple times and still do get to see them sometimes. It’s the same thing every time…you make eye contact with them and suddenly you find yourself kind of running towards them and it always results in a huge hug. If we’re spending the day together, it’s always full of laughs and embarrassing stories of back when we were all fangirls. We might have grown out of the artist, but we never grew out of each other.

To my Internet best friends,

Thank you for always being there for me when I needed it, for picking up FaceTime calls at ungodly hours, and for standing by my side when I was crying because “OH MY GOD HE LOOKED AT ME IN THE CROWD” (Even though he probably didn’t’). You guys mean the entire world to me. I would never change a minute of what we have. I love you guys. (143)