My "fake" friends...

You know, it's funny...when I look at my "friends", I realize that most of my really, truly close friends are women I've never met. However, we've all shared a common bond of unfortunate circumstance. Tragedy really does bring people together.

It's interesting to think about life before my PAL ladies. I didn't have a toddler. I didn't have a "baby ponch". I didn't worry about what Jack was doing at day care or what the color of his poop meant. I didn't send an emergency text messages when things went wrong...or right. We didn't share pictures every day or post on each other's facebook pages. We didn't start "reply to all" email chains in the morning and play email tag all day long. We were just a group of women, brought together by some awesome twist of fate, to be lifelong friends.

This group of women, AMAZING women, have truly lifted me up during the hardest times in my life. They have shared stories of their lives, their children, their husbands and boyfriends...ex-husbands and ex-boyfriends and I've done the same. We've shared many TMI* moments with each other. In fact, we probably know more about each other than we do about some of our own family. We've shared secrets. We've shared excitement. We've shared heartache. The important part of all that...it's genuine. It's really, truly genuine friendship.

(*TMI: Too Much Information)

You read correctly, I've never met any one of these women in person. Ever. The bond I feel with them is truly remarkable.

Besides, who else will text me during the season finale of ER to tell me that she was sobbing with me? Who else can I send completely random texts to and she'll laugh at my stupidity besides Alisa?

Who else can I count on every Tuesday night during The Biggest Loser AND call with all my silly law questions? Who else will tell me that my DH is a jerk (if he deserves it!) except my Ashley?

Who else can I text photos of Jack to at all hours of the day and night...and get a response? Who can I send photos of the temperature gauge in my car and have them laugh at me? Who else will let me live vicariously through their little girls and be my guinea pigs when I decide to make tutus besides my Ya-Ya's?

Who else will almost always have the first Ya email of the day AND get me into making this blog besides my Reidie-Poo?

Who else will I ask when I have a "Hypothetically speaking, will CPS take my son if..." question AND rely on to have a really funny response to emails besides my Jilly-Bean?

Who else can give amazing parenting advice about boys...and make BEAUTIFUL beads besides my Patti-cakes?

Who else has all the HR answers and writes the word "uterus" on a FB wall because we'll all think it's hysterical besides my Jaime?

Who else puts every single person's needs before her own and always cares more about what we're going through than her own struggles besides my Kristi?

Who else allows her DH to kick our butts at Word Twist and to pick my college basketball picks for me...all while allowing us to talk trash right back to him? Who always seems to have the BEST way to word absolutely anything besides my Kelly?

Who else would text me all night long from the grocery store at midnight because I am in my bedroom sobbing? Who else always has the right words to help me through any given situation besides Danielle?

I mean, really? They're truly amazing women. They're the rock in my life. They're where I learn new parenting tricks (like Lotrimin as diaper rash cream...whowouldathunkit?). They're who calm me down when something bad is happening and rejoice with me when good things are happening!

I hope they all know exactly how much they ALL mean to me (whether they were mentioned here or not!)