I was reading the blog of another person whose material I read because I regard the person as a "friend" in the acquaintance sense of the word.

Interestingly enough, we've never met...but there's a scant degree of separation between the two of us. And if it were not for the internet, this person would remain a complete unknown to me (although we probably wouldn't know the same people).

Here's how it went down, for you newbies. You see, my family and I had moved to a forbidding hellhole somewhere in a remote piece of America. As we found ourselves trapped there and giving serious consideration to living out of a van for awhile (not kidding on that score), we evaluated our options. High on our list were various homeless shelters.

But, through fate or chance or whatever, there was another internet user with whom we were connected. This individual's family had land in a small Texas town, and the community offered us a chance to relocate and get back on our feet. My unemployment check, too small for the community we currently lived in, was more than ample to meet our basic needs in this Texas town.

From here, you see, the whole circle of acquaintances grows wider. Many individuals who would have otherwise been anonymous strangers, have "come alive" for me. This being the small town that it is, these users have become REAL in a way that wouldn't have been possible pre-internet. You see, as I'm hearing stories about them from the past, I'm READING materials some of these individuals are posting in the present. And they have grown to become like an extended family that I otherwise would never have known. And so, when I read their stories, I read it with an extended knowledge of who they are. With a backstory. With stories of skinned knees and high school shenanigans that don't usually form the basis of knowledge of a writer. And it's a fascinating if not occasionally disturbing concept.

I wonder if we ever really stop and think about how much the Internet has changed our lives. I'm willing to wager it's far more than we realize.