The People Who Live In My Computer

I have a confession: there are people who live in my computer. The names and faces have changed and multiplied, but they've been there for years. And every once in a while, one of them materializes into a real, live, warm-blooded human being. Like this past weekend, for instance.

This is Chrystal, whom I adore (holding Finn) and her daughter on my lap. She and her family visited this weekend and fun was had by all.

The truth is, I've been meeting people and making friends - real friends - online for years. It all started wayyyyyy back before I ever got pregnant the first time. I had been trying to conceive for a few years already and met another girl who had also been trying to conceive for some time, and we hit it off and began what was to be a friendship that lasted many years. We actually ended up (finally) getting pregnant at the same time and gave birth to our first babies within days of each other. While I was pregnant with Kevin all those years ago, I became part of an "email loop" (anyone remember those? that was before message boards and discussion forums hit it big) consisting of about a dozen women, all pregnant with their first babies and due in January, 1997. Three of us formed a long-lasting friendship and, although we were scattered across the US, we managed to visit one another and go away for girls' and mommy weekends once or twice a year. Since then, I've been involved in a number of pregnancy message boards over the years and have forged quite a few friendships.

The blogging world has opened up yet another avenue of friendship for me. Right now, I am so fortunate to be a part of a very special circle of women friends (enter Chrystal) with whom I feel a real sisterhood. The common thread among us is that we are each raising a child with Down syndrome. But the friendship goes far beyond that. Not only do we share the joys and challenges of raising children with Ds, we talk about everything under the sun, we text and call each other, we exchange gifts, we laugh, we cry, and some of us have even been fortunate enough to meet in person. Now, if that's not friendship, I don't know what is.