An Unexpected Friendship

I guess it was about ten years ago when I became Internet savvy. At the time, I only knew how to navigate AOL and found my way to some "book boards." This was a place where people (mostly women), who read a lot of books, congregated and talked about the books they were reading. These book boards not only introduced me to many new authors but also introduced me to some friends.....cyber friends as they're called because you talk to them online but have never met them. Such was the case with my friend JoAnn. We spoke for years about books and then about families and then about basically anything we could think of. This was all done online.

It was probably after five years of doing this that we did have our first phone conversation which was followed shortly thereafter by a personal meeting. At this time, she was no longer my cyber friend. She had graduated to full fledged friend. I liked her right from the start. My first attraction to her was that she was smart -- really smart. There wasn't anything I wanted to talk about that she wasn't fluent in. And she was a perfectionist. Boy do I love a perfectionist. But the thing that made her my BCFF, Best Cyber Friend Forever, was that she was also a great mother.

In my lifetime, I've met plenty of good mothers and every once in awhile, I'll come upon a great mother. I know I've talked in the past about the people in my life who are truly my friends and I've even numbered them as being eight.....JoAnn is one of the eight. And she's the unexpected one. I thought I had already met all the best friends I was going to have in this lifetime and then she came along. I don't think there's a day that goes by that we don't speak online. But when I go back now and look at my best friends, this is a quality that, those of them who have children, have. They're all great mothers. So it's obviously something I'm drawn to. This is JoAnn at her daughter's wedding. Being the perfectionist she is, you can just imagine the planning that went into this affair.

I recently asked her daughter Laura about her mother's work experience because I didn't want to get any of my facts wrong in this blog. I knew she had been an editor but Laura explained that, in addition to that, she was a Mom.....and the best kind of Mom there was. A Mom who never made her do anything she wasn't comfortable doing, one who supported her and encouraged her at what she was good at, and most of all a Mom who was just there for her. In other words, a Mom who was also her best friend. And now she's one of my best friends and I feel honored. Last year the whole family went to Ireland and this is a picture of all of them. In addition to thinking we also have the best kids in the world, we also agree that we both got the best sons-in-law that ever lived.

I can just laugh out loud sometimes when I think of JoAnn and think of me asking her a simple question.....like what kind of lamps do you think look best in a baby's room? Before you know it, I have an email with five different links to five different sites selling lamps. She's a fun friend as well because we're both politically inclined the same way and I can say things to her that I wouldn't say to the everyday Susie. She's great like that. It's been over a decade that we've been members of these book boards and when you have a lot of strong minded women talking to each other on a daily basis, the talk sometimes gets heated. In this regard, JoAnn has been my most loyal friend, never faltering in our friendship. She has always been there for me no matter what.

As I'm typing this, I just got an instant message from JoAnn. This is exactly how it went and is so typical of our chats:

QuAppelle (JoAnn) (9:55:54 PM): is pinot grigio a white wine?
HRDCOVERS (Me) (9:56:00 PM): yes
HRDCOVERS (Me) (9:56:20 PM): you mean there's something in this world you don't know
QuAppelle (JoAnn) (9:56:41 PM): I saw you were online and knew you would know, so I did not have to look it up
QuAppelle(JoAnn) (9:56:47 PM): LOL
HRDCOVERS (Me) (9:56:48 PM): lol
QuAppelle (JoAnn) (9:57:00 PM): what is the red wine that sarts with pinot
QuAppelle (JoAnn) (9:57:04 PM): pinot noir?
HRDCOVERS (Me) (9:57:58 PM): yes that's a red wine

She just cracks me up.....every single day. And JoAnn holds one other very important distinction in our friendship. She comments on my blog more than anyone else I know. I so appreciate reading her comments. And she knows I appreciate it and she continues to do it because she knows how happy it makes me. Granted, every once in awhile she will disagree with what I write and she will be the first person to tell me. That, my dear, is the sign of a "great" friendship. So what that she doesn't like books written by Indian authors and refuses to watch Big Brother, she seems to like everything else I do.

I know all about her likes and dislikes, her grandson Charmer (a golden retriever) and her beloved cat Isaac. She sends me pictures of both all the time. Little does she know that I'll shortly be returning the favor when my grandson arrives next month. So I got to thinking that perhaps all of my best friends were animal lovers as well and, now that I think of it, they all are. I just have to post pictures of this cat and dog for you all to see. Afterall, I think I have at least fifty of each animal on file so I might just as well share them with you. And then this one of both Isaac and Charmer is just hysterical. Charmer definitely just puts up with Isaac and probably can't wait to have his house back again counting the minutes until Isaac leaves.

So on this very special day, my dear friend JoAnn, I have a present for you. We will meet for lunch at Maggiano's on Wednesday, October 22nd. You wanted a firm date for our next meeting and there it is. It will be your special belated birthday celebration with your very best cyber friend. This happy birthday greeting reminded me of you because it looks like the word Birthday is partially in the water, right near your beach house. So start counting off the days. You'll see me in 105. Happy Birthday!!!!!!