Today I realized something that made me both happy and concerned. I know my internet friends better than I know my own neighbor. April and Kris got into a car accident last night and thankfully, they are both ok. She called me late last night to let me know what had happened to her and today I called her to see how they were doing. During I conversation I realized that I know more about her than I know my next door lately. In fact, I did not even see her for the first 3 months I was here.

This is not a new thing, even though Kansas City is a far friendlier place than Michigan was, I do not feel more comfortable walking up to a neighbor and introducing myself than I did back there. At the last house I got to know the people next door mainly because they shared a patch of grass. In Chicago I got to know a couple of neighbors also, but besides the “small talk” we shared we never really shared all that much.

The internet is a wonderful tool and it is connecting people all over the world. While I cherish my friendships with all my blog buddies it does bother me a little that I do not even know the people I live around. Further more, I don’t even feel the need to do so. I have also had experiences with bad neighbors and I hope I don’t have to ever relive those again. While it is true that you chose your friends and not your neighbors, I would still want to live in a place like back in Colombia where you knew everybody on your block.

I have some wonderful friends at work now, and I have met plenty more that way, but I still have not met anyone from just the neighborhood that I could call a friend. It is hard to miss something you never had, but in my case, some of my best friends were people that lived around my house. I am not complaining in the sense that I don’t appreciate the wonderful group of friends that I do have, however it is hard not to have someone that I can call and say, hey lets catch a movie… well that is not entirely true, I do have that back in Chicago… but since I am not there now, you people have to come and visit!

In the end I am really lucky. I have friends in all corners of the world… what’s even better, I have friends all over this country that I can go and visit. Maybe I should do that soon, go and see some of my friend in TN, TX, or CA.