Friendship in our times

Somewhere in this blog, I believe it’s in the first entry, I mentioned that I had a couple of pen pals that I never forgot about, William and Chris. I genuinely believe that these were my first two long-distance friendships and, I think they had a lot to do with who I am today. Keep in mind, our friendship was through hand written (or typed with my old and heavy Olivetti typewriter) letters and snail mail. It took months for us to have news from each other, from the other side of the world. I was in Mexico, William was in Singapore, and Chris was in Australia. Snail mail was slow, but receiving a letter was quite a matter to celebrate.

I am now grateful for the Internet. Over a decade ago, I left my parents' home to go study a graduate degree in the United States. It was truly not that far as I am from northern Mexico and I went to live for two years to San Angelo, Texas, about a 10-hour drive, including rest stops. However, I had been dating this hot guy for a few years before I finished my undergraduate degree and we did not know if our relationship would continue, as I was leaving our city. Well, I can tell you now that our story was a happy one. Due to easy Internet communication, we were in touch pretty much daily. This also meant that, since the interest continued, he visited me every two or three months in the two-year period that I was studying and working in Texas (yes, I was employed by the Small Business Administration as part of the contract to study a full-time MBA program, all quite legal, thank you). We have now been married for 12 years, and it’s 18 years today that we started dating. Thank you e-mail and Internet. :)

Here is a photo of us when we started dating back in 1991, a funny one:


I can still be thankful for the Internet. I have made some long-distance friendships that have lasted over 10 years and I am still making new friendships that would otherwise be impossible.

Long live the Big Blue Marble!

Cheers!