My Chatfriends

For the past 12 years or so, or ever since I figured out how to use a computer, I have been chatting with a lot of people.

To say this changed my life has to be a serious understatement.
Over the years I've met many for these folks real time, most of them have dropped from the face of the earth, some of them still pop up now and then.

There is a small core of us though, that has managed to stick together.
A small group of women, who have become my virtual family.
There are also a few guys in this group, but for now I wanted to touch on the gals.

For those of you out there who just don't understand all this internet relationship stuff (well, you're reading my blog, so you must understand it a little) these relationships are very real.
Some of the ladies I have met, some of them I only know through the chat room and email.

In the early days everyone was into cyber-relationships. The newness of it, the seemingly easy way of connecting with someone, sometimes getting into deep deep doo-doo with members of the opposite sex. It was all so exciting.
There were many cyber affairs, some of them turning into real time affairs.
At the moment, we really did not realize how destructive these could be.

But we all learned valuable lessons. Some of my chat friends actually found their life partners online. Most of us though had to suffer through some serious and destructive situations.
I like to blame it all on menopause, and the newness of the internet *S* (Speak for yourself, Calypso!)

We organized Chat meets. I only attended one of them. In Nashville. It was a great weekend, met many people I only knew by nick name. Pictures were made and shared on personal websites. I still have one of them bookmarked and look at the pictures now and then.

There are faces I forgot, some of them I'd rather forget, faces of people who have since died.
And the ones that stuck around.

The leftover group I am now talking about consists of 5 women (6 if you include me). We live all over the USA, and one lives in Finland.
Over the past 6-7 years we've shared deaths in the family, serious surgeries, cancer, depression, divorces, but also delightful travel stories, births of grand children.

Since none of us have the time or the energy to chat much anymore, we now have our own little private room where we leave posts in the morning, just to keep in touch. When something is going on we leave longer posts, when someone is absent for a while, we get worried and we try to find out what is going on.

We all have faced many problems, some still do, and it's always wonderful to be able to depend on these women to get encouragement, a cyber hug, an uplifting email.

These gals have become my sisters. Everyone is a grandma, one of us a great-grandma. The last lady to become a grandma is our friend from Finland. It is so exciting to share our baby's pictures, and everyone is always to happy to ohh and ahh over the new arrivals.

The most important thing though, is that this unit of women has sustained us through life.
We have things in common, we understand each other, we love each other. Even though we never meet in real time. It amazes me that such a bond can exist.

I am very grateful to these girls, and I hope to have their support in many years to come.

*BIG GROUP HUG*

SGMKJ!