There is a saying, “Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.” Like most sayings, it is oft repeated because it is indeed true. The bonds of friendship grow and strengthen over time, and our friends become yet another extension of ourselves – and within each of our friends lies a bit of our heart that we’ve given them to hang on to and treasure.

Having recently returned from several days in Nashville at Blissdom, the topic of friendship is foremost in my mind. After days of bonding and sharing my soul and laughing and being joyful with my friends, I am home now. I miss these people.

Prior to Blissdom, the Blissfully Domestic group decided this year that we wanted to dedicate a space to honor Anissa Mayhew, a blogger who had a stroke in November and wasn’t able to physically attend. Though she was not in Nashville physically, her spirit sure was. Her friends turned out in droves to write messages of love and support for their friend. They turned out to offer her kindness and to lift her spirit as she rehabilitates. People who didn’t even know her stopped by to share stories of daughters, sons – of loved ones who also had had strokes but were recovering and making accomplishments in their rehabilitation that could have only been hoped for. It was typical for someone to say, as they wrote their message, “I LOVE THAT GIRL.” Many of these friendships were formed via the blogging community – and yet, no less real than friendships developed in “more traditional” means.

To those who aren’t active on the internet (via blogging, Twitter, or some other social media platform), it may seem odd to call these virtual strangers “friends”, but they are no less friends than those I have met in any other manner. When I am sad, I turn to my virtual “sisters” to lift me – and lift me they do. When my heart is bubbling over with joy, those same people are there to share my triumph.

To anyone who has felt the bond of sister-friends, you know then, why after spending several days with my sister-friends, I return home sadly. While grateful to return to my husband and my daughters, I miss snapping candids of my friends tearing up the dance floor, miss laughing and giggling, and miss their hugs and their smiles.