Silver and Gold

Way back when parenthood was new to me, I joined an online forum called Linking Parents. It was a mishmash of conversations and inside jokes, of weird acronyms for our dd's and ds's (dear/damn daughters/sons) but most of all it was a place to avoid feeling alone in the world. There were moments of triumph and moments of devastation as we celebrated and mourned life coming and going. I made many treasured relationships but none more than HerMama. 

Online, people can have varied interests and tones, you never knew whether their opinions were truly theirs or just made up to fit the group, etc. But HerMama, as different as her journey was from mine, always had things to say that were in line with the things I wanted to listen to. Years later when the forums fell apart and people drifted to Facebook as a method for connection, I was lucky enough to hang onto some of those relationships--especially with HerMama, who no longer had to hide her personna behind a username. 

Now, a decade and a half later, I am so grateful things have lasted to the point of close friendship, of movie dates and dinner dates, of conversations online and offline, of heartfelt moments and moments of hilarity, of silver and gold.