Finding Friends in Strange Places

I had a conversation last night with a girlfriend that got me thinking about my life and my friends. It wasn't anything special that we discussed, it was just the fact that we were even conversing at all. Really, as I type this, it's also the fact that I even call her a girlfriend. As a member of an online chat/support/network group (whatever you want to call it) for nearly two years, I have met and become friendly with so many new people. People whom I didn't realize even existed in this world. And now I wonder what it would be like without them. It's only been in the last year that I have discovered just how geographically close some of them are to the places I live and frequently visit. It's like having a friend no matter where you go. I could travel to California, to Canada, to Ohio, almost anywhere, and be near someone I know. Without really realizing it, I have networked with 30-some friends across the country(ies) .

This is really special when you think about it. I don't personally know of anyone that has 30 friends they talk to on a regular basis that are all in the exact same playing field as you, working towards the same goals and on the same problems. I know that during the worst times of sleep issues with Lacey, I would not have come out of it as well if I didn't have a place to vent my frustrations. Honestly. It was the hardest and most exhausting period of my life and I didn't know ANYONE else who was going through it. Thank God for these girls who endlessly listened to me cry and complain day in and day out and never once made me feel like they didn't want to hear it.

The part that really gets me is the randomness of it all. What in the world possessed me, possessed THEM, to get online and take the first step (posting a message) to a group of total strangers?? Why was it THESE 30 people out of the millions that could have joined?

It makes me wonder how things are going to be 5 years, 10 years, from now. Will we still be friends? Who will have moved on? How many of our kids will continue to be friends with each other? The possibilities of the future amaze me. I would have never guessed in a million years that I would find such great friends randomly on a chat board.