Who Says Virtual Friends Aren’t Real?

Yes, today is my birthday.  In case I forgot for some reason my friends certainly would not have let me.  For the past twenty four hours I have been receiving birthday wishes from literally around the the world.

And it feels great.  If I haven’t thanked you before, I am thanking all of you again.  Believe me, it makes my day.

I took some screenshots to show you all…

I don’t know if this makes me the luckiest guy in the world … but it sure is darn close.  That and my kids woke me up this morning with a call to sing me happy birthday.

And this comes to the title of this post … I haven’t met in person half these folks.  Does it matter?  Are these well wishes any less heartfelt?  I don’t think so.  They make be feel great.  Don’t know where I’m going to keep that b-day alpaca, but I do know that I could start a cottage biz knitting hats!

Regardless, a lot is often made of how "unreal" Internet friends are.  Well, I would like to dispute that just by expanding the nature of a "friend".  No, I can’t take most of these folks for a beer tonight (no one is in Victoria), but … next time we’re at a conference together I can.

Again, thank you all for the well wishes.  Now, what should I do after my client meeting @ 7 PM?