With A Little Help From My Friends

Yesterday, my thoughts were all about the friends that make up my life. The friends I see daily or at school events or at meetings or at coffee. The friends who make up my world, in real life. I have long distance friends, friends who live close by and friends that live close by but I actually "see" them more, online.

Online...the great friend connector!! Online has also introduced me to many, many women that make up my life, on a daily basis, and have been making up my life for about 13 years. Amazing!!! You hear a lot of jokes about having online friends, how they are not real, somehow, or serial stalkers, etc. But, in my ever changing moods, these online friends have made my moods happy, sad, elated, irritated and loved. My life would not be complete without the part of me that is a part of them.

When the cheerleader was three years old, Mr. Man brought home our first computer. EXCITEMENT! I was going to surf the net...lol. I started slow by compiling email contacts, cooking websites, stuff like that. One day, I got an email from a friend telling me about a place called, Moms Online. I went, I joined, I was on AOL at the time and joined the AOL side of Moms Online. Voila!! It was like meeting and friending a whole bunch of moms from all over the place out of the comfort of your home. There was so much to absorb, take in, learn. It was so overwhelming that I had to just choose one area so I chose a cooking board. Friends were made, we dished food, kids, husbands, life...it was just amazing.

Years jumped ahead, boards changed or broke up and when we moved to the rural country of Green Acres (my joke name for where we live) I was without internet service for a few months until they got actual internet service out in our neck of the woods. But, once I was back online, things had changed, Moms Online was no more and I had to search for a new group of friends. I found them and little by little we have all seemed to band together to form quite a group. I guess the remaining friends that I have on boards have been the friends who will stand the test of time, we have been there through so much over time, survived board fights, board breakups, mean posters and yet we still stand strong. Sometimes, if I feel things or people are slowly sending me to my last nerve, I take a break or step away. And, the beauty of doing that is when you go back, it is like a light beckoning you, your safety light and you know you are back home.

I have been lucky to have been a part of two very seperate kinds of boards, each containing the most unique people. One set of friends on a board were brought together by being moms, wives, love of cooking, etc. The other set of board friends were brought together by our obsession and love of a little tv show, Sex And The City. Both boards have taught me a great deal about the true meaning of friendship and both have showed me that when the chips all fall, and you look around, the friends left standing and waving to you are the greatest friends of all.

So, online friends make up a special place in my heart. They have helped shape me into who I am just like my friends, in my everyday life.

Friends...we all need them, we all love them and on a daily basis, I like to think that I really do get by with a little help from my friends.


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