My internet friends...

When dh first joined the Army, I needed a place to figure out what the acronyms meant, when we would get paid, where would we move, how to deal with the insanity the military is and just an outlet to vent. I came across a book that took me to a website and there I stayed. Over the years this website has changed and morphed more than possible. The name got changed, new members came in, old members left, the name changed again, the platform changed,the url changed, but through it all the friendship survived.

For a civillian it might make no sense how can I consider these girls friends. Well I will tell you, when your husband just deployed, and its 2 am and you don't want to head to the cold bed alone because after 200 days, you are sick and tired of going to bed alone, or when your are rocking your infant child past 3 am, you can hop on this website and get support and kind words. These girls have done it all. Through our darkest hour; from death of a spouse to the horrible medical diagnoses through the grueling hours of pacing and uncertainty if you will get a knock on your door after some helicopter crash halfway across the world, we supported and consoled each other.

Some of us have even met in real life. Some of us didn't have to give birth alone because our online "friends" were there with us holding our hands while our SO's were thousand of miles away. We have met for coffee and play dates and didn't have to pack our house alone for the 5th time because there were friends there helping us. Some of us are friends on facebook and send each other birth announcements, wedding announcements and christmas cards. While some of us never met in person, the love I feel for these girls are unexplainable.

I have smiled and cried through their trials and accomplishments. When someone got a positive pregnancy test after trying for so long, I have smiled and felt genuinely happy for them. Their homecoming pictures always gets to me even more than any homecoming pictures because through the deployment fears and worry, I was there with them offering a kind word or just a virtual hug, just like it had been done for me many times before.

If I had any grace during my first round of motherhood/deployment was because of their advice and how they kept me sane laughing over "turkey vagina" jokes at 2am.

Oh its not all sad and gloom. I guarantee that anytime a coach bag, cow porn, crab dip, fake pearls and a bob is mentioned, no matter where they are in the world, they will smile because of the memories it will bring them and myself.

Although we are no longer military, we are all still friends, still sharing stories ideas, tips and advice on everything under the sun. I still smile just as much when someone gets a positive on a pregnancy test, and shed just as many tears when a friend looses a child or a husband. I love these girls and am forever thankful for them, even if some of them only live inside my computer screen.

Love A