We'll always have September Sprites

For this week's Friendship Friday post, I wanted to talk about three friends I met through a group I joined on iVillage during my first pregnancy and the months following my son's birth.

J.S.: After I first joined the group, I posted a quote from "Rent" at one point, either on a discussion or in my profile. It caught J.S.'s eye, as she was a "Rent" fan too. We started e-mailing every day after that, usually multiple times a day. We found a lot of other things we had in common. Eventually, we became sounding boards for each other. I still remember little things like how she'd always talk about getting Mexican food while I talked about getting Chinese food. We also gave each other book and movie recommendations. We were excited for each other at the births of our children and sent each other gifts for the babies. When our babies were almost a year old, we got to meet in person for the first time. I felt bad about running late to meet her because we got lost. It was fun to talk face to face. She actually lived not far from where we currently live. A short while later, she moved to NY and then we moved to NJ. We didn't get a chance to meet up, but we still e-mailed from time to time. We sent each other gifts when our second children were born too. We haven't really e-mailed in a while, but I see updated pics of her adorable girls on her Facebook page. I enjoyed the correspondence we had during our first pregnancies and I hope we can catch up with each other again soon.

S.W.: We didn't meet until after our babies were born. Our first common bond was that our first born sons have the same birthday. The next bond was that their names sounded similar. And finally, we lived relatively close to one another. (If you consider that people were scattered all over the US, living in the north/northwest suburbs of Chicago is close, no matter how far apart those suburbs are.) We met up right before our boys turned one. We hung out at a local mall and got lunch together. After that, we didn't get another chance to hang out. She had another baby that fall and was pretty busy. Then I moved to NJ the following spring. We stayed in touch the whole time, even though our schedules clashed every time I've been in town for a visit. This past year, she and I worked on a blog project along with two other friends. I got to know her even better that way. I think about her whenever I see Kristin Chenoweth or watch "Wall-E." I'm glad we've stayed friends and I hope we continue to stay in touch!

M.B.: Our paths crossed several times in the iVillage groups, but then she left to form a different group. I tried to join that one but had no time to keep up with it. However, her name was very memorable and that helped me reconnect with her a few years later. When I was living in NJ, I formed a group for moms on Facebook. I was looking for moms to tell about this group and came across her profile. I asked her about being in iVillage, as her name stood out from that time. Then we started finding lots of things we had in common, mostly our interest in Broadway shows, and certain TV shows and movies. We started a weekly e-mail discussion about "90210." (I think we both started watching it because of the mother from "Arrested Development" and then just got addicted, even when she left the show.) I met her in person once when we did something to help each other out. She was looking for clients for her massage school clinicals and I was looking for a massage that wouldn't burn a hole in my wallet. You'd think it would be weird to have a first encounter with an online friend this way, but it wasn't all that awkward and she did a great job. I wish her success in her career as a massage therapist. I feel bad that we never got to meet up for a play date with our kids before we moved. I hope our paths will cross in person again someday. Until then, I'm sure we'll find more shows that we both like and can discuss further. Right now, I know it's "Glee."

I connected with some other women in the group as well. There was another one that I met in person when she was in town for a day. We went to the same mall and restaurant that I went to with S.W.. We still see each other around on Facebook. There's another one I like to talk to about Adam Sandler movies. We've also exchanged e-mails about more personal stuff. She lives in Illinois too, but we never got to meet when I lived there. I've also connected with a few other moms from that group on Facebook, as well. There were some that I had stayed in touch with the whole time, even if only sporadically or through status updates. I am thankful that I was able to meet these women through the iVillage groups and stay in touch with them. I love seeing pics of how their "Sprites" have grown in these past 5 years and I enjoy sharing pics and news about my "Sprite." No matter where our lives take us, we'll always have September Sprites.