Imaginary Friends

I was in Dallas this past weekend at a family event. In the middle of the weekend I spent an hour with two friends I made on my mommy website. I told my family where I was going and the horror on their faces was funny.

My one cousin says to me "You're going to meet your imaginary friends?"

No. I am not going to meet my imaginary friends, I am going to meet my REAL friends.

I have been blessed to be a part of a wonderful group of very real ladies. A group of ladies that welcomed me with open arms when I crashed their get together in Toronto last August. A group of REAL girls who waited at the airport for me in psychodelic wigs. A group of women who spent 48 hours getting to know me.

They are very real.

Since that wonderful trip last summer I have grown closer to these women. Met them again in October in Boston. They are very real. They didn't laugh at me when in the midst of a midnight firedrill I stopped to make sure that my brand new coach bag was evacuated with the rest of us. They didn't laugh at me when I walked around with a box of cheese its because I need to constantly snack. (at least they didn't make fun of me to my face)

Recently a mutual friend tried to put me in a place to betray my imaginary friends. She wanted me to spy for her and tell her what my very real friends were saying. I was like a deer caught in headlights. How do you do that? Who asks someone to spy on their friends? In a moment that I'll remain proud of for a long time I said no. I told this person that I would not, could not spy on my friends.

If these were imaginary friends and not people who had given me their hearts perhaps it would be easy to have spied. But my dear cousin, these people are not imaginary. They are real. Very real. They come from all walks of life, from as far away as Britain, Canada and Seattle. They are Jewish, Christian, Pagan, Atheist. They laugh with me, they cry with me. They KNOW me and they feel me (ok not in the creepy feel me way).

I am blessed to have these imaginary people in my life. And I look forward to watching these friendships continue to grow.

Thank you imaginary people. Thank you for showing me how real you are.