Ohio grandmother travels 2,000 miles to meet her online pals in real life

NEW LONDON, Ohio - Tootie Grospitch, of New London, sits in her favorite recliner enjoying her favorite activity: online gaming.

"Just an outlet to get away from the real world," Grospitch said, with a laugh in her home.

When the 63-year-old had to put her mom and dad into a nursing home, she started logging on to winster.com to play different games to just take her mind off things. She told ONN you can win points and even trade them in for things like gift cards.

She recently donated all of her points to habitat for humanity. But that's not why she is hooked on the site.

"In different rooms, you kind of get acquainted to people and banter back and forth," Grospitch said. That banter turned into exchanging emails and then phone numbers between Grospitch and some of the women on the site.

"We just kind of clicked," she said.

The women, between the ages of 40 to 70, bonded over laughs and tears. When Grosspitch lost her own mother, she decided she wanted to meet her online friends in real life, or "IRL."

"I thought, this is the time when a lot of people are losing their friends and family. And I thought, I'm going to get out and do what I want to do," she said.

Grosspitch packed her grandkids in the car and traveled to New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts to visit her new extended family. She also made a trip to Virginia.

"It was like we knew each other. It was that comfortable," she said.

Research shows the use of social networking sites has grown 150 percent for people 65 and older. Grosspitch said she isn't surprised.

"Most of us enjoy the Internet. We may get a little confused, but I think it helps our minds," she said.

Grosspitch Skypes and uses Facebook with some of her new and dearest friends, and now can't imagine her real life without her online one. Grospitch is planning road trips to meet more online friends who live in North Dakota, Washington and Idaho.