Friends?

A quick paraphrased conversation between me and my wife: 

"How do you know him?" she said.

"We talk on twitter," I responded.

"Oh, so you don't really know him" she said.

This came up as part of my quest to get a postcard from all 50 states for my son. A friend of mine from twitter sent ones from Kansas and Missouri and when they arrived, my wife was curious who we knew in that part of the country.

I guess, technically, we've never met. We're both baseball fans who, though the magic of twitter, started following each other. We both trade insights, questions and jokes about the games we're watching as well as trade ideas that would never happen but it's fun to speculate about. Over time, like anyone you share a similar interest with and time talking to, we became friends.

At least in my eyes. My wife isn't quite so sure. She's of the understandable belief that to meet someone, you have to, you know, actually have met them in person. Anyone can be anyone on the internet, so who is to say someone isn't going through an elaborate bit of performance art to claim to be a Kansas City Royals fan who created a backstory about his brother being a foreign missionary just to interact with people online for the sake of some big reveal sometime in the future. Seems a bit extreme, but then, great art is extreme and not always understood in its own time.

(I made that last part up, I have no knowledge of art history or what does or doesn't constitute great art or when it become appreciated.)

So do I know him? I guess it's a matter of semantics. Not exactly a firm stand there, but what do you want from me? It's not like this is a really pressing issue that needs a definitive answer. Let's put it this way, I've interacted more with this guy that I've never met in person a whole lot more than I have with some of my Facebook friends that I haven't done more than accept a friend request from in the past 15 years. I'll let you define what that is for you.