<p>My S coined the “invisible friends” term - As a child he was the one with the invisible friend (“George”) and thought it was funny that suddenly it was me with all the friends I talked about that no one else knew.</p>
<p>I came here 4 years ago when I Googled for “what to wear on an audition.” Now, exactly 4 years later, my S just had his senior recital at Juilliard, and there were invisible friends in the audience! (Mythmom and her H came – but I told my S there were really 24 invisible friends there. How many he could actually see depended on how pure he was.)</p>
<p>In the past 4 years, CC has come to the rescue many times. Now that I have an empty nest, I am making a conscious effort to cut back - it’s not easy. There are lots of folks I care about on here, and lots of lively discussion. When I don’t check in, I feel like I missed class! I appreciate all the voices, even the ones I usually disagree with!</p>
<p>Ditto on appreciating the good advice and compassion that is offered here. I truly appreciate the thoughtfulness involved, as well as the witty responses, the links to engineer joke sites, etc.</p>
<p>Just a thought, what do we call the ‘visible’ friends that have benefited from the info I pass on from C.C. posters? Invisible friends, once removed?</p>
<p>I enjoy reading posts by people whose political views or family backgrounds differ from mine – A LOT! – and yet we share core values about the importance of family and education. I love to expand the circle of people whom I can respect. Long overdue.</p>
<p>Also my spouse’s work is public and political, which puts me in a tiny box where I can’t confide with women about the usual stuff. So that is GREAT for me to express myself freely and not worry it will hurt him in his work. Very liberating.</p>
<p>Then there’s the nuts-and-bolts help. Most recently, this morning, I called out to Californians to help over a voter registration matter, and got great advice in time for Super Tuesday. I’m in upstate NY. Before last year, I didn’t know anyone from California. Now it’s all like a small village. Then, to read someone from overseas and realize I’m hearing from around the globe…fantastic.</p>
<p>And Karen Colleges, I do constantly pass on what I learn here to my friends. Just about every day. And my son makes fun of me for being on here, but he knows he has benefited from the collective knowledge I’ve tapped into here.</p>
<p>I guess the thing is, if you spend enough time with people, either IRL or on the internet, you start to feel who you can trust. I know who I can count on here (or I think I do–my hubby thinks I’m delusional). He thinks these are my imaginary friends. I believe in imaginary friends, including mythmom.</p>
<p>We’re all in this leaky boat together.
That’s a leaky boat up there ^^^^^. Well, canoe-ish boat. Hey, I did my best. (See the leak?) I have to work with what little I’ve got. ;)</p>
<p>Darn you are so much better than I am in design…another way CC has helped me out. I actually was so dumb I never saw ":^) " before I came here…heck someone on CC showed me how to do the quote thing…it did take several tries, but he walked me through it. Now if someone can help me on how to do bold or colors I would be really happy :D</p>
<p>I believe in alu and curm too, and bethie, and everyone else, and fairies… curm, you should start charging me for the number of times I’ve used your leaky boat. But I always give you credit. I must say, your drawing is impressive.</p>
<p>I was happy to learn to do these
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Bless you friends! I love coming home from work and relaxing after an exhausting day by catching up with the CC community. And I’ve learned some much about so many things over the years - so thanks, everyone!</p>
: p<br>
: D Big Grin