I got home from New York around 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday. I was essentially brain dead after staying up all Saturday night with my roommates, laughing until I was asthmatic and crying. Previous days included drinking, walking, going to parties, schlubbing bags of shit I probably didn’t need through the hotel, making people laugh, people making me laugh, and being happier than I ever could have assumed I could be without my family by my side.

For some reason, this year’s BlogHer was…bittersweet. I’ve come to realize I have this magnificent group of friends that, to some, only live on the internet. I know this is a lie. I also know that people don’t understand how I can feel so strongly towards this same gaggle of people when I “barely know them.”

I guess what it amounts to is, unless you’ve ever experienced this kind of friendship, you will never know. I know that I have about 15 people who have my back not only via the internet, but in real life. These are TRUE FRIENDS. We can reconnect after a year of not seeing each other like a moment hasn’t passed.

Do you know how I know all this? I woke up this morning and started getting ready for work, and realized that just two days before, I could wake up and see any of them right then and there. Today, I couldn’t. And it seriously feels like I left part of me in New York.

Please, don’t get me wrong, I love my family and being home. THEY are home to me. They are my heart and soul. And I love my “regular” friends too. But sometimes? It’s nice to have people who live your life nearly the same, but different in their own ways. We are all the same deep down. We write. We blog. We live our lives in the open. We are people reaching out to find others who can relate. And I’ve found a bunch of them who I never want to lose as friends. Not in a million years.

This post brought to you by: Mandy, Mae, Morgan, Tiffany, Krystal, Jill, Charlie & Andy, Jen, Ari, Chelsey, Jess, Alena, Jamie & Jon, Miranda, & Suzanne and anyone else I’ve left off.