LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO MY NEW BEST FRIEND

​I want to tell you about my new best friend. I love everything about her! I love her gorgeous home. I love her decorating skills. I love her cooking tips. I love her fancy coffee maker that steams the milk perfectly and creates a luxurious latte on the coffee bar of her Better-Homes-and-Garden's kitchen. She is kind and funny. She is wickedly smart and shares her life in an open honest way. Even though I am older than she is, I want to grow up and be just like her!

She checks in with me every morning as she is making her coffee. I can almost smell the aroma as I hear her coffee maker grind the beans and she tells me about her plans for the day. I love seeing photos of her kids and grandbabies. I ride along with her as she drives to get her hair and nails done or drops her grandchildren off at school. I’m invited to her holiday gatherings, and she teaches me how to set the perfect table and decorate with themes and dramatic flair.

Although she hasn’t been in my life long, I feel like I have known her forever. She includes me in every way. I laugh with her. I feel the joy in her life and understand the pain of her past. I feel like we are sisters on a deep level.

I have never met her.

She is my social media friend. A faux friend. A person that I follow through her stories, photos, and videos. I see her through the screen of my phone. I am not the only one. She has thousands of friends like me. We comment on how lovely her landscaping is. We dream of having a lake house to go to on the weekends like she does. We follow her recipes and enjoy new ways of cooking with our InstaPots and air fryers. We ask her questions. We follow her links to buy items that she uses and suggests. We trust her recommendations because we trust her. She influences our lives. She is an influencer.

A social media influencer has established credibility, has access to a huge audience, and can persuade others to act based on their recommendations. But wait, I want her to be my friend! I believe she is my friend. I am convinced if we lived close to each other we would hang out together. We would have lunch at quaint outdoor cafés. We would share secrets. We would take girl trips together.

Yes, I know what you are thinking… she has me hook, line, and sinker. I saw the movie about the fake side of social media influencers. I saw how they rent yachts and fancy hotel rooms to make you believe they have a fabulous lifestyle and manipulate you to buy expensive sunglasses and beauty products in the hopes of becoming just like them. I can pick out those fake people with fake lives and I delete them from my social media quickly. My friend is different. She is down to earth. She is normal. She isn’t flashy or obnoxious. I do love her and I do trust her. She has never guided me in the wrong direction.

She probably does not even know who I am in the sea of followers that reach out to her, but she is important to me. She may be a faux friend, but I feel connected to her. I believe we are friends.

And, now when she is making her coffee and telling me about her day, I am making my coffee in the same coffee maker smelling my own ground beans and enjoying the perfect latté from my own kitchen. Maybe someday she will say to someone,
       “Hey, let me tell you about my new best friend.
         She is an author and a speaker- I love everything about her!”

Pennie’s Life Lesson:
           “Best friends come into our lives in different ways and for different reasons.”

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YOUR TURN...        
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