Motherhood Monday #5 Online Community

Now after my downward spiral with PPD and being a teen mom my large circle of friends quickly dwindled down to a non-existent number. My mother had found a mom forum online when searching for my sons bedroom set and I quickly became a member. I visited on a daily basis and talked to the girls on there both on and off the board. I knew almost everything about them. I could tell you their children’s name, their favorite shows, and what they made for dinner the night before. I had their kids pictures on my fridge as they did mine.
We made huge Christmas Card address list and mailed to everyone each year.
We even put together our own cookbook that we all contributed too and had copies of our own.

Now, to people on the outside this was just looked upon as a hobby board but anyone who has ever had the great opportunity to belong to one knows the strong bonds that are formed. You don’t need to truly know a person to KNOW a person.
This board watched me grow up in so many ways. They saw me in my lowest points, they saw me on my best days. They heard me think out loud and knew just when to tell me to grow up and get real. They also had hearts of gold and taught me more then anyone the powers of helping other people. Sounds crazy doesn’t it?
This board opened its arms to me and to so many other wonderful people.
They offered words of encouragement when one was down and hooted and hollered when one of us succeeded. It was often the first place I went when I was either excited or upset. I knew that these woman had their hearts in the right place and could tell me straight up what I needed to hear. When Johnny and I had our first Christmas I was struggling financially and do you know one day I came home to these large boxes on my front step. One of the lady’s had handmade me a tree skirt with matching baskets and such. There were enough decorations to decorate the entire tree and gifts for my son. I will never ever forgot what she did for me. What she did for my son. It saddens me every year now after the fire when I don’t have her skirt to lay under my tree. I think that Christmas will always make me think of her it and the gifts she blessed on us that year. It wasn’t the fact that she gave us monetary gifts that made me so happy…it was the fact she gave us Christmas. After the fire these girls rallied together for my family in the same way. Whenever one of us needed something we were there. Regardless of the reason.

Many of us now don’t necessarily belong to forum boards, but we do jump blogs. If you’re here and reading this it applies to you. We get to know each other through pictures and stories. We chat through sites like Twitter and Facebook and before you know it we are intertwined. If we go missing for a few days we notice. If one of our children falls sick we rally together. That is what we do as woman. We lean on each other.

There has been much controversy in the past on how we use social media tools to announce when things go wrong in our lives. One mom tweeted in the moments in her son died from drowning in a pool. Another committed suicide and her blog was used to write her final post. While some don’t always agree with how its been done I can completely understand why it was done. See as a Mom my opportunities to get out with friends are close to none. After turning my friends down multiple times they stop asking. Before you know it communication all together is gone. We look for outlets and in return we find connections. It’s only imaginable that when complete turmoils falls in our lap we call on those we need and know closest. When my house was burning to the ground I looked to the girls on my board-that day. Why? Because in the end they are the ones we know understand us. Relate to us. Know us. The ones that allow us to grieve and celebrate. The way we need to. When we need too.