Nerd Confession

Last week I confessed that I say nope to soap, so here's my next "shameful" confession.

Some of my favorite friends live on the internet.

I'm not really sure how shameful it is or what.  I remember being in high school and talking to strange people on message boards and AIM regularly, but never ever ever considered them my real friends.  I assumed all people meeting other people from the internet were either toothless, desperate or pedobears.

It seems to be more acceptable and slightly less nerdy these days though.  I joined a mom forum in 2008 because I had an embarassing question about my big pregnant crotch or something, and I never once expected to make a second post, but somehow I ended up becoming part of a community and now I've met some of them!  In real life!  One trusted me with her life in the back of my swagger wagon on the way to dinner once, and one had the opportunity to touch my boob "on accident".  Another was slightly disappointed by the contrast in my online persona and my real life softspoken social awkwardness, ha.

I'm still not toothless or a pedobear, and I don't think I'm desperate, so I guess maybe it was never really that nerdy to make friends online and perhaps my perspective has just changed.  I think this is just yet another one of those things that motherhood has changed for me.  I still have my BFFs from high school and my few work friends, but between all of us I was alone in pushing out my Little Me's by almost 3 years.  And until the kids are in school, there's not a place that you have to go and have to mingle with other parents and force yourself into friendships with them.  And me being entirely too socially retarded, I find it difficult to force myself into library and playground trips at regular intervals to meet up with people.  I realize I'm not helping my "I'm not desperate" statement here.

Regardless, I have taken a genuine liking to these ladies.  They laugh at my dumb jokes.  They listen and sympathize with my dumb rants.  They have helped raise my kids in some ways.  They are way easier to talk to about embarassing things since I will never have to look most of them in the eye.  They have started businesses and gotten married and had struggles and lost loved ones and shared it all with me and taught me a little about what adult friendships should be like.  They're taking me through this weird not-many-mom-friends phase and hopefully will stick around for many many years!

So, I give my highly valuable endorsement to supplementing your life with genuine friends that happen to live on the internet.  Mom forums aren't that dorky.