My "interesting" assortment of friends.

I've been told on several occassions that I have a very interesting (and wide spread) assortment of friends. Let me back up and mention that, growing up, I didn't have a LOT of friends, but the ones I had could be counted on for anything. And 20+ years later, I still keep in touch with a few of those friends. I should probably also add that the majority of my good friends now...well, I've never actually met many them. They're names and faces on an online chat board.

Take Mr. NoNameYet dog. Within two hours of finding him, I had one virtual friend in Connecticut lobbying her rescue group on his behalf and looking for a foster home. At the same time, yet another friend in Texas was offering to help with his vet bills. And yet another in Florida is sending me a donation to use towards his care.

Then there was Valentine. These same ladies helped me raise more than $600 for her vet bills. One of these friends (who is also local) took the crazy trip to Chicago with me to deliver Val to yet another virtual friend. And we passed thru Ohio to see yet another friend who is also a wonderfully talented photographer and took some lovely pictures of Val.

And speaking of photographers, not all these ladies' good deeds are pet related. Another photog friend in California has offered to photograph my brother-in-law's homecoming. He's been deployed with the USMC and during the first year of marriage to my sister has missed Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, their anniversary and her birthday. These pictures will mean so much.

I used to shake my head when I heard about people marrying someone they met online...that is, until I realized that many of my best friends are online too.