I have been truly blessed by the people I have met blogging and tweeting. If you’ve known me long enough you know that when I first started blogging I was certain I was going to get stalked or my kids would get kidnapped if I shared too much about the real me. I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined the wonderful friendships that would be formed.
I don’t remember the first time I “talked”. I say talked but it really is tweeted with Abby or maybe I read one of her posts (www.abbygabs.com) first and then tweeted with her… I guess I really don’t remember the first time I talked to her! The first post I remember reading of Abby’s involved an bon fire, her brother, her mom and dad and a tree.
My cheeks hurt from smiling, my side ached from laughing but most of all I was left in awwww. I was in awww of the fantastic family she had, the love they had for each other and how the hell they could all get each other in such a state. Most of all I was in awwww of Abby’s ability to bring that moment to life in drawings, her ability to embrace the hystericalness of it all and her comfort with putting it out there.
To say the least I was hooked!!
Each week I waited for the latest Abby post. What would she do next?! What crazy fun perspective would she bring to life? I couldn’t wait to see!
One average Saturday. Well, average if you call running from ballet recital to a princess party average. I was sitting at the princess party, stuck because my daughter was a bit nervous and she really wanted me to stay, but oh my lordy was I board. I sent out a tweet proclaiming by princess party boredom. The moment that she tweeted back a sassy, giddy, excited totally Abby reply was the moment Abby went from being a stranger and an absolutely cherished friendship began. That and a very princess princess party of our own was had!
The more I chatted and got to know Abby, the more we started writing posts together.
Her enthusiasm, creative perspective on life and discoverer of all things hilarity started to rub off on me! Creating became more than writing a memoirs. It became putting beautiful words together with stunning pictures.
It became finding the funny in the everyday and adding the sexy.
Then it became me picking up a pen and tapping into my long forgotten drawing skill…
note to reader…If you’re wondering what is up with all the Donnie Walhberg. Yeah… that’s Abby. She likes him just a smidge!!!
Then it happen. Last week, I sat at my desk at work, writing a welcome back post to my parents. I suddenly found myself adding more fun to it. I found myself bringing in the funny. It was a day I will never forget. It was the day I knew I could never thank Abby enough. Throughout all of this, throughout the silliness, the photo shopped pictures and the drawings Abby did something. She unlocked something deep inside of me. Creating posts and teaming up with her pulled something out of me that had long been buried away. Sure I knew I was a relatively creative person. I knew I could draw OK. I had a pretty good eye for making things. Suddenly it was like I was given permission to pull out a long hidden skill. Abby unlocked this amazingness inside of me. She showed me it was OK to bring out the fun. It was OK for me to draw (and actually show my drawings to other people) and push my creative limits. She showed me that it’s fun to grab up all the silly life brings you and put my own twist on it. Most of all she taught me it is totally OK for me to love being me, for me to have fun being me and it was OK for me to look deep for long forgotten skills and create! The moment I pushed the publish button of that classroom blog post I knew in that instant she had unlocked an energy, a fun, a zest and a creative freedom I had long forgotten. For that, I am more grateful than she will ever know because she unlocked my fun! 
