This tank and healer relationship

It's been a while since I've talked about tank-healer relationships. Let's look at the specific relationship I have with my tank. Despite what some guildies may have wondered at one time, Jess and I did not know each other prior to the game. Our tank-healer relationship, and the now subsequent real life friendship, has been built from the game.

This tank healer relationship started within The Left Claw over 3 years ago when we had about 7 people who ran 5 mans together all the time. I think the first time I healed Jess was back in Scarlet Monastery when we were level 30 something. From then until some of the later 5 mans in BC, I don't think that I ever even healed another tank. When we did start running with other tanks or healers, it was funny because we felt that we were somehow cheating on each other.

But the other day I was pondering about the fact that not every tank or healer I know in game has this sort of tank-healer relationship. So I wonder what it is that brings or cements a random tank and healer together into this sort of relationship? Is it just luck that brings together a tank and a healer who just somehow happen to click?

I know that part of our relationship today has to do with what I went through about 9 months after I started playing this game. Without going into tons of detail, I'll just say that I was an absolute emotional wreck for about 3 months. If I think back to that time now, I don't even recognize myself. Things got better, but I was still pretty bad for the next 9 months.

During this entire year, Jess, I kid you not, ended up being my personal therapist. I honestly believe that I would have gone off the deep end and really needed professional help if I didn't have that outlet. The drama that unfolded over that year was to the extent that it could have been written for a made for TV movie.

Throughout that time, Jess knew pretty much every excruciatingly painful detail of what was going on, way more stuff than my RL family and friends knew. Why? Well, there was stuff that was so dramatic, so shocking, so depressing, that it was easier for me to confide in someone who "didn't really know me". To this day, Jess knows more of what happened and what I thought/felt/struggled with at the time than anyone else.

When I think back to that time, I can't even believe that Jess put up with all of it for that long and that I didn't drive Jess off the deep end. When I mentioned to Jess the other day about how this emotionally wrecked year of mine probably set some sort of foundation for our relationship today, Jess agreed, but did wonder what it was that made me feel comfortable enough to confide all that stuff in the first place. Hmmm. Good question.

It still often surprises me when Jess says something or sends me an email that shows me how incredibly well Jess really knows me. Sometimes in a way even better than I know myself. Seriously, how can this be? Between two people who have yet to even meet each other in real life? When I say that I continue to play this game for the people and the relationships, this is a big reason why.

I'm thinking that this sort of relationship could happen with any two people in this game, whether that is two healers, two dps, or whatever combination of two roles within the game. But I wonder if there anything about playing the role of a tank and healer that somehow adds to building a real life friendship? Do we trust each other more because of the roles we play in game? Hmmm.

Whether it was just plain luck or fate that brought this healer and tank together, I'm grateful for this relationship that has translated over into a real life friendship. I know that one day I'll stop playing this game, but I know that our friendship will continue. And I have to think to myself, isn't it just plain crazy that this game did all of this?