First published: March 5, 2012

Nine a.m. A cold Chicago winter morning. I crawl out of a cozy warm bed, slide into sweats, make a pot of French Roast coffee, offer Fancy Feast Minced Beef to four impatient cats (and hope they eat it) while the coffee perks, grab a chocolate-frosted doughnut, and plop down in front of my computer. I wonder if missyb's* new boyfriend kissed her last night, if Scooby* finally started writing his paper on Hemingway, if SweetiePie's* hpt was positive or negative, and if BillS* finally was able to shift his car out of Park. (*all names have been changed)

Who are Missy, Scooby, SweetiePie, and Bill? Fifteen years ago they would have been people I knew in Real Life. I would have been eager to talk with them in person or on the phone to find out how things were going and try to answer any further questions. Now they inhabit my Virtual Life on the Internet, my world on AskMeHelpDesk.

In both of my worlds, Real and Virtual, I have friends, relatives, and (yes, you guessed it!) enemies. In both of my worlds, especially on AskMeHelpDesk, I listen, teach, advise, and am a resource person. In both of my worlds, I laugh and cry, love and hate, hope and despair.

My Virtual Life and the people I know there are as real as are the people in my Real Life. There's definitely a real person sitting in his computer chair in front of his monitor typing on his keyboard. I won't know what Missy and Scooby and SweetiePie and Bill look like unless they decide to share photos of themselves. I may never again exchange any posts with them now that Missy has gotten her first kiss and Scooby has written his paper and SweetiePie has found out she's not pregnant and Bill has gotten his car towed to the shop.

But that's okay. That's a day in the life of AskMeHelpDesk. But yet, Scooby and I may connect on a deeper level with our love for literature, and he will continue to post questions not only about his college courses but also about his social life, his dog, and his family that is driving him crazy. Bill may stick around too and share his chili recipe plus ask for help in buying a new car.

Now, multiply my experience by the similar experiences of many of the huge number of people who daily log onto AskMeHelpDesk. It's a community with a capital C – we listen to and share with each other, answer each other's questions, learn from each other, disagree (sometimes loudly!) with each other, and have fun with each other

Get involved with our friendly Community! I'll be watching for you!