Old Friends & Introductions

I love the Internet and its ability to connect (and keep connected) people, regardless of geographic distance. I especially love it since I am terrible at keeping in touch with people, although they are continually in my thoughts.

Today was a day for reconnecting with old friends - a Facebook invite from someone I went to high school with, a note from an old friend in Virginia, whom I know longer remember how we met, and, best of all, an e-mail from a woman I have known for 7 years, since first moving to Virginia Beach. She and another group of women posted to a site for Himself's ship, eons ago when he was in the Navy. Slowly, we all began to meet. We bonded together as the ship and its sailors (and our husbands, boyfriends and fiances) departed and returned in a seemingly endless cycle of work-ups and deployments. I was young, in a new city, knowing no one. They were older, wise and full of life.

Time went on, and I lost contact. Until today. I received a wonderful e-mail from one of the women, who filled me in on the lives of the rest of the group and the happy and sad events of the past few years. It reminded me how much these women had become family for that year, how much "family" has been constructed of assorted friends of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs over the past decade.

It made me think about the people whose blogs I read here - the online community that allows me to associate, to connect, to revel in good friends. It's high time, I thought, that I should make introductions.

* 5 under 7 - Beth has THE cutest kids on the planet (and as a mother of a cute kid, I should know). Her little girl, Lauren, was in our nursery class in Virginia. She was independent, charming and smart - and a true girl with every fiber of her being. The entire family sat every Sunday on the front row - something I cannot fathom surviving, even with only one little girl of my own.

* Abby's Road Trip - Abby is a member of another site I belong to, and began chronicling her cross-country motorcycle trip last summer. Her blog fills my fascination with all things road trip, as well as reminding me of the wonderful times I spent in the motorcycle industry several years ago.

* Angela & Steve - Angela and I met at Heidi's wedding reception 5+ years ago, and became friends when Heidi moved away and we moved to Northern VA to take her place. We are about as sporadically likely to keep in touch as we were to see each other, but her sense of humor and her passion for life are intoxicating.

* Chronicles of the Flood - For those of you who haven't heard the story we love to tell for the shock value of it, Himself and Heidi dated once upon a time. To explain beyond that how she and I met would take a novel of epic proportion. Suffice it to say, she has remained one of my closest friends over the six years we've known each other, culminating in Heidi being my labor coach. If we had Godmothers (or Fairy Godmothers), Heidi would be Baby Girl's.

* Large Plates - Oliver & Kristen met Himself way back when as well (back when he and Heidi were dating). Fast forward a few years, and I meet them at Heidi's wedding. Fast forward a few more years, and we end up living in the same neighborhood, attending the same church, and collecting their friends. I held baby Clara when she was just hours old (See "A Very Important Event") and was amazed to see her two weeks ago looking oh-so-grown up. Oliver and Kristen together create the most perfect assembly of conversational geniuses I've ever known.

* My Friend Andy - This blog is written by a woman I've only "known" virtually, who belongs to the same site that Abby and I do. She has amazing writing talent and a soul that truly knows the pure meaning of friendship.

* Stef's Stuff - While I've known Stefanie since junior high, my greatest memories of her come from our freshman year of college when she continually wowed my roommate and I with her creative ways to stay in touch - a letter mailed in a Last Will & Testament envelope, one mailed on calculator tape inside a paper towel tube, etc. Not to be outdone, we composed a letter using an entire roll of toilet paper. A few years later, she left me a key to her house and notes with before photos to tour her remodeled home while she was out of town and I was passing through. Effectively, I've seen her house in the last decade, but not her. Stef was also my very first friend with e-mail. Nearly 12 years and seven kids later (six hers, one mine), we still manage to collide once in awhile.

**TO BE CONTINUED**