On the one hand I have met a handful of people whom I love and who have become friends for ever and whom I would have never met and gotten to know so intimately otherwise. Partly because they are 3000 miles away and partly because in ordinary life it is just hard to get to know people as you do when you have time to read their reflections on what means the most to them.
On the other hand I have spent thousands of hours reading, and reading, and reading, and reading.....
....if you know what I mean.
Joanna