21st Century: Meeting Internet Friends

Warning: This story is going to sound super strange, but I promise it's not THAT weird.

When I was 13, I found a forum online. I started posting there, and I made several friends from all over the world. Now, I'm 26, and I still keep in touch with many of those people. It's so great having friends on several different continents! That said, I became very close friends with a girl my age named Lucy. We talked and talked. We noticed we have MANY similarities. We are "twins". The problem? She is from England. SO FAR AWAY.

When Dan found out he was heading to England for three weeks in the summer of 2012 for Air Force OPS, I instantly knew he had to meet Lucy for me. Luckily, he was able to. She showed him around London, and he even got to go out with Lucy, her boyfriend Simon, and some of their friends. I WAS SO JEALOUS.

And then she planned a visit to the USA for June of 2013. TALK ABOUT ECSTATIC! We planned for MONTHS on end, figuring out all the fun things we would do while she was here. She came with her boyfriend, Simon, and Dan took his three weeks of leave while they were in town.

We showed them all around Colorado, and then we drove to the Grand Canyon. We checked out the Hoover Dam and stayed for a few days in Las Vegas. Their trip concluded with more wonderful tourist spots in Colorado. WE HAD A BLAST. I did not want them to leave. Thankfully, they are coming back out next May for our wedding, and Dan and I will be staying with them for the last few days of our honeymoon.

It's truly WONDERFUL having such a great friend, despite the fact that she lives all the way across the ocean. Isn't technology AMAZING???

I hope you enjoyed the exorbitant amount of pictures of us posing with things. We didn't mean to take so many, and Dan and Simon were definitely not impressed. They had a wonderful time too, though, and they even got to have some guy time. They were SO SICK of taking pictures for us by the end of the trip (or maybe by the second day).