5 Years Ago In A Blog World

Thank goodness for Facebook and its never-ending reminders of where you were at in your life 1,2,3,+ years ago.  A great reminder popped up on a friend’s timeline that she shared with me this weekend that had me recalling really great memories.

Five years ago I spent a week in both southern California and Las Vegas.  I accepted an invitation for a blog get together with a little over 100 women that I had never met, nor talked to on the phone.  They were women in my comments section, women whose stories I had followed for so long, women who I shared late night emails with and we were each others cheering section in life.   We shared similar stories in our lives, divorces and rough break-ups but there were 5 of us specifically out to meet one another.  We had a bond that spanned across different backgrounds and across the United States but we had so much in common.  So, I booked a flight and we coordinated hotel rooms via email.

I wish I could say it was strange to meet up with these girls but it was anything but that.  One shared her home for the first few days, we did tourist things in LA, we shared a hotel room in Vegas, we drank too much, we partied our hearts out and walked the Vegas strip late at night.  These were women who I only knew through the computer screen, who held me up at a time when I needed it the most.  Women who knew my deepest, darkest secrets, and I theirs.  Yet, we didn’t judge.  We laughed and carried on like we had known one another for years.  In a way we did.  We knew one another in a way that our closest friends in real life didn’t.

These women are still in my life today and I consider them some of my closest friends.  It has been five years.  Five years since we first met face to face and we have each come a long ways in life.  I have gone through a miscarriage at the same time as one them and I am grateful to say we are now due with our rainbow babies at nearly the same time.  Three of us, since that time, have found the love of our lives and have married them.  One of these women made the trek to my own wedding in Mexico.  Each of our blogs has moved on to a different place and life.  The barrier of a blog screen is down between us but the lines of communication and ability to share whatever we need to share is there.

While my first blog held one of the hardest times of my life, it was raw and emotional, it brought some of the greatest people in my life.  At a time when I felt like I lost a lot of faith, they restored my faith in humanity and showed me what true friendship can be.  So those who wonder about the people behind the comments and the stats on their blog, they are real, they are human, they take time out of their day to read how yours is, they care.  I hope that you understand that when you are typing out your words, late at night, you are not alone.  There are people cheering you on in the world, people who support you and want to see you succeed.

I look back on the past five years and I am so proud of each one of us.  Life happens and it happens quick but it makes it even better with the amazing people that stand next to you.  Here is to the next five years ladies. Cheers.