Thoughts on Friends

Four score and seven months ago (ok, maybe not four score but it was seven months ago) I started a blog because I was suffocating in my head. I needed an outlet. Blogging seemed like a good idea. At first it was all fine and dandy to just write and write and write some more and be anonymous but then I began to crave feedback that did not consist of "Hey your blog looks great. Want to buy some all natural wheat germ? Come to www.blahblah.com". So I began to surf for other mom-type bloggers via the "next blog" button. I found a lot of unsavory stuff, a lot of stuff written in foreign languages, and a lot of stuff that meant nothing to me. Then on evening in the midst of clicking next blog-next blog-next blog I stumbled onto a blog called "Morceaux de Fromage" that featured a picture of this beautiful woman holding a baby. I started to read and was instantly smitten. She was an at-home mom of a baby girl and she was funny, real, and her writing was so enjoyable. I bookmarked her and visited frequently. After a few visits I began to explore her links and commenters-- a hysterically funny lady who was called Daring Young Mom, another funny awesome writer who called herself Eulallia, and several others. Moms. Moms who blog. Moms like me who find the humor in the every day occurences of staying at home with kids because they had come to the same conclusion that I had: if I don't find a way to poke fun at the nineteenth peanut butter sandwich I've made this week I. Will. Die. We love our kids. We love to be at home with them. But good heavens, it's enough to drive you to the funny farm on a good day.

One day I took a big step out of my box and I left a comment. I think it said, "Thanks for making me laugh daily." What I received in return were three incredible new friendships. Fast frienships grown, shared, and nurtured through similar experiences, prayer, and genuine care. Heather, Kathryn, and Karli are these amazing women who embraced me into their lives. Several months ago the five of us (Karli, Heather, Kathryn, my sister, me) began plotting a get-together. Kathryn and I had already met but we were all eager to meet at the same time. We chose Idaho as a central location and the date was set. As we anticipated our meet-up we thought, Hey, wouldn't it be fun to see if anyone else lives around this neck of the woods who might want to meet other crazy people from the internet? That's when Bloggirls in Idaho was born. A dinner party was planned and people responded. The result? An incredible weekend connecting with women like me who I never would have known if I had stayed hidden in my self-pity and privacy and never commented.

We met, we played, we shared, we ate, we ate again, we talked, we ate some more. We laughed. A lot.

Thank you, Friends, for going out on a limb, for sharing yourselves online, for reaching out and making yourselves vulnerable regarding your joys and struggles of being a mother, for your crazy off the cuff humor. For accepting me into all of it.

And thanks for not looking at my zit when I was talking to you. And for posting pictures all over the internet of me with broccoli in my teeth. I know, I SO asked for that one.

*****

You can read additional accounts of the weekend and see pictures of me making a total idiot of myself because oh my gosh it's so easy for me to do when someone puts a camera in my face:

Daring Young Mom

Your Stitchery Friend

Here Today . . . and Probably Tomorrow Too

Growing Spuds-- No Small Potatoes

From Her Majesty's Throne

Owl Haven

ABC Momma

One More Thing to Do