Imaginary Friends

Did you ever have an imaginary friend when you were small? Someone you talked to but never really saw in person?

With the advent of the internet, many of us started having more and more "imaginary" friends. You know, people we would chat with online either via Yahoo Groups (before Facebook) or via Messenger.

Back around probably 2002, I entered the online world. Yes, for those of you young folks out there, there was life before the internet. It wasn't until my second child was born that I joined the online world...via dial-up! Keeping it real here. Keeping it real.

It was at this time in my life that I went from a full-time working mom to a stay-at-home-mom with two young children. I needed some adult conversation. I craved talking with people other than my infant and four year old, who was speech delayed so didn't really talk much at that point! My poor hubby was all for it as he was talked out by the time he arrived home each day from work.

This is when I discovered Yahoo Groups. Think Facebook Groups but via email. We would sometimes have live chats though. They were based on likes and dislikes, hobbies, everything and anything you could imagine, you could find a group for it.

One of the first ones I joined was called Christian Scrapbooking Friends. Hey, this was the early 2000s when scrapbooking was huge and I had jumped in with both feet when my oldest was only 18 months old. I have the albums and supplies still to prove it.

I enjoyed that little group immensely and I made some lifelong friends through it - women I still keep in touch with, now on Facebook mostly. I exchange Christmas cards with some every year. I chat online with them, but most of them I have never, ever met in person.

Earlier this year one such friend contacted me. I met Kay through that little scrapbooking group years ago, before my youngest was born and before her (I think) four youngest were born. The chances of Kay and I meeting had always been pretty slim since I lived here in Maine and she lived way out in the mid-west in Minnesota. However, she was going to be in New Hamsphire and Maine for about a week while her husband was at a work conference. Could we meet?

That's when I looked at my calendar and realized I had one day I could see her as she was arriving the week we were going to be gone on vacation. And I would need to drive to New Hampshire to do it. A three hour drive versus a cross-country drive is a no-brainer in my book and we began to plan our visit.

Kay and her family were staying at a cute little cottage on a lake in New Hampshire. We spent quite an enjoyable afternoon chatting and visiting in real life for the first time ever. I'm hoping at some point we can do it again, but who knows. I was so great to not only get to see her but to also meet her children and her husband.

Sometimes imaginary friends are the best ones.