Thank you to Yahoo! Mail for sponsoring this post about staying connected. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

I remember when I was first became aware of the Internet. I was in college, and I was immediately mesmerized by the fact that you could connect to other computers no matter where they were. I was only vaguely aware of e-mail, but it seemed foreign to me, the domain (ha!) of my computer science major friends rather than a nursing student like me.

Time passed, and I eventually got my own portal to the Internet with an awesome 56k modem. After it went through all it's boops and beeps, it was fascinating to be connected to other computers able to see lists, and books and even some conversations as I dabbled in IRC, even if it was all text-based.

Eventually, we became "cutting edge" at work when our department got an e-mail address. Yes, one e-mail address for the entire department. You had to put your name in the subject line so that everyone knew who the e-mail was for, but it was still exciting to be able to message people both near and far through the computer.

I eventually got my own e-mail address when I needed to join a message board thing, and after that, there was no stopping me. (It was a Yahoo! account, and I've proudly had it since 1999 and I still use it today.)

Over the years, and each day I conduct business, catch up with friends, share news, write notes to myself and communicate about my childrens' sports teams.

Even though my inbox isn't all fun and games, I get excited when there's a new e-mail waiting. Maybe it's a friend just saying hello, maybe someone liked something I wrote on my blog, or perhaps someone wants to give me money (hey, it could happen...). I also think it's fun to send someone a note so they have something waiting for them, too.

I also love the idea of someone being just an e-mail away. I can easily reach my family during the day (if necessary), I can spontaneously interact with a group of friends even if we are too busy to get together, and it can even make a far-away friend seem closer.

Sometimes, electronic communication can be more, it can be a connection.