I remember being in the fourth grade, receiving the name and address of a pen pal in another school. I had been so excited to make a new friend. We exchanged letters because we had to but we also wrote to each other because we wanted to. At the end of the year, our classes met up, we had a field trip and finally got to see face to face who we had been writing to. Her name was Melissa.

It’s funny really because that summer my family moved into a new house in a new suburb. I didn’t know anyone and one day taking a walk through the newly built neighborhood I saw the last name on a wooden sign hanging by the front door. I stared at it, pointed it out to my parents who believed her last name to be just as common as Smith or Jones but they didn’t ruin my fun as I was only ten.

I found out it was Melissa. The odds of us meeting up again, becoming friends turned out to be fate. We certainly got ourselves into a lot of trouble and I remember taking the blame for something we both had done.

The years passed and I look back and see a resemblance to another friendship I’ve formed but this time technology has been the cause, not a teacher giving out an assignment.

I found this friend on a message board nearly four years ago. We share a common interest in writing and a love for the television show Without A Trace. It was what brought us together. What kept us together was a bond I can’t even begin to describe.

I was in college when we first chatted online. I spent many nights up late because of the time difference. I focused on my studies but focused more on my writing to her. We shared stories and wrote together delving into another world neither of us knew existed-role play and fan fiction.

As I graduated college, I moved around a bit and finally got my feet planted in a new job, in my first apartment, and I still had my best friend – the one online to share everything with. It wasn’t to say I didn’t have friends in what we like to call the “real world” but those people never seemed to share the same interests or connect as much as the ones we do with online.

Last week I finally had the chance to visit my online friend in Australia. I traveled twenty-four hours across the continents from Chicago to Melbourne to come face to face with my friend. In the three plus years I’d chatted with her online, I’d never picked up the phone to actually hear her voice.

I was terrified prior to my flight. I had tried to come last Christmas but fell ill. Looking back I see it was a panic attack. I was going to meet my best friend that was online! Was everyone right, was I crazy for meeting a complete stranger? Maybe I was but I was going.

It was my vacation and I needed one from work. I needed to get away from the city and the people I know and see my best friend. I sucked up my nerves (though I did vomit on the flight) and gathered my courage to go through customs and out the gate glancing around for the young woman in a black and white striped sweater.

It took a minute as my eyes scoured through the crowd of people. I’d seen a picture of her, though one not recent enough but I knew what her mother and father looked like as well. Her dad stood out among everyone, his hand raised up giving a wave and the smile grew on my face as I looked over seeing her and receiving a hug from her entire family.

I had finally made it, the journey was just the beginning. I had two weeks in Australia, the best two weeks of my life.