How I became a proud Member of The Walking Dead Family

I have always been extremely close to the members of my real life family.  We have shared many triumphs and have conquered many obstacles on our road to happiness.  Every year that passes we all get a little older, a little wiser (at least we hopes so even though when it comes to my younger brothers, I sometimes wonder), and a little battle-worn.  The point is that we grow, for better or worse, we grow.  So, what does this have to do with being a member of The Walking Dead Family?  The answer, in short, everything.

I first heard the term The Walking Dead Family this summer while watching The Walking Dead July 4th weekend marathon.  Gale Anne Hurd (@GunnerGale) mentioned it in her interview with Kevin Smith.  I was immediately intrigued.  Could there really be a group of people out there that share my love of Walkers and the people who struggle to keep from becoming one of them?  What would these people be like?  More importantly, would I feel comfortable communicating with them?

So why would I feel uncomfortable?  Well, I have always been my my own kind of weird.  I am not talking weird like hide your spouse, your kids, and your neighbor's dog kind of weird.  I've just always marched to the beat of my own drums.  Most people, including my real life family, accepted me but have never really understood me.  How could I connect with complete strangers then if my real life family didn't even get me?

To Twitter!  I already had a twitter account (one I set up only because our beloved Norman Reedus tweeted something that I just had to comment on.  Yeah, yeah.  I know.  I shall take a moment to hang my head in shame.  Feel free to carry on without me while I figure out how to stop blushing).  I already followed quite a few people who were fans of The Walking Dead.  I was pleasantly surprised by how incredibly cool and nice they all were to me.  As an extra bonus, I realized that they were a lot like me.  Talk about awesomeville!  Finally, I had found people who spoke my language and understood mine.  It was through one of these wonderful new friends that I saw a tweet for the walkingdeadfamily.com chat room.  I said, self, "They have a chat room!?!  Let me slip into my happy shoes and do a little happy dance for you." 

Alright, quit laughing.  I know you pictured me dancing so I'll give you a moment to wipe the tears out of your eyes and catch your breath.  Better?  Ok, moving along.  That night I checked out the walking dead family chat room.  It had been years since I had been in a chat room.  I honestly had forgotten how much fun it was and how much easier it was to hold an actual conversation with someone.  I was greeted very warmly, which I was not expecting on my first visit.  I was immediately hooked.  Not only had I found a group of people who shared my love of The Walking Dead, but I found that we had a lot of other things in common too.

I am proud to say that I am a regular in The Walking Dead Family chat room.  I am even more proud to be a member of The Walking Dead Family.  As with my real life family, I have learned so many of the different pieces that make up my new family members.  We all swoon over our favorite characters together and then are able to laugh at ourselves and each other for being silly hormonal men and women.  We cry together when a favored character dies or suffers heartache.  We share our personal triumphs and failures in between these moments.  You do that long enough and before you know it, complete strangers that you met online just to talk about a tv show have become a part of your family.  The show may have been what brought us together, but it is these little moments we share about ourselves that keeps us together.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I am proud to be a part of The Walking Dead Family.

WalkingDeadFamily.com - The Premier TWD Chat Room