This week my Things are 10 dear Flickr-friends—all people I’ve never even met who somehow manage to make my life richer, funnier, happier, more beautiful and more interesting every single day.

1) I like Rachel (whom I like to call MJ) so much—she is intelligent, dry, generous, and wholly herself—that I am almost afraid to meet her, in case I find myself tongue-tied.

2) Greg invited me to be his assistant editor on Utata last year, and for that single pleasure alone I am indebted to him. He’s also one of the most challenging and delightful colleagues I’ve ever had. And I have great colleagues.

3) Pretty much every single day I have the impulse to hug Melissa, whose face expresses all the the love, strength, and beauty in the world.

4) If I tried to tell you how great Lori is, you would probably think I was making her up. She seems to possess boundless reserves of good spirit, and she gives it away. For free!

5) I have a huge creative crush on Liza. She’s fearless and inventive in ways I would give my right arm to be, and her sense of humor makes me go weak in the knees. Liza’s my idol.

6) Kevin is incredibly erudite (I often find myself looking things up after I visit his stream) and also incredibly appealing. These traits are difficult to combine in a single human being—Kevin manages admirably.

7) Maggie is approximately seven different people, and all of them are shockingly fabulous. She lives in Chicago, but she has so many fans I’m not sure she’s going to be accessible. :-)

8) I was trying to pick photos that were all the same orientation for this little exercise (which has so far taken me the last 75 minutes, so it’s not that little)— but I don’t think there’s any other picture of Lori’s (this is a different Lori. Stay with me.) that could describe why I like her so much. Oh, well. You know what they say about consistency.

9) Phil has been an encouraging voice to me for almost as long as I’ve been on Flickr. He’s as gracious and kind as they come, and when he visits he never fails to say something that makes me stop in my tracks and actually think about what I’m doing (not a natural instinct, apparently).

10) Kicey is a star. No, really. She’s a self-luminous celestial body, and she’s definitely visible at night from the Earth. I’m frankly blown away that she even knows my name, let alone that she says lovely things to me. Kicey’s rising in the sky, too. You just wait and see.

There you go—10 of my long-distance love affairs. I can’t get enough of you folks.