The IM Reunion

Hey all,

So you know I've been kind of freaking out on my book deadline. Well I got my contract yesterday and it says the book isn't due til October 1st. Here I was thinking I needed to turn it in September 1st! I'm so happy - a whole extra month! Whoo hoo! I feel so much better now. Not that I'm going to slack, mind you. But it does relieve some of the pressure.

Last night I finally got to IM with one of my best friends - Ali - in Florida. She and I have been through a lot together - much good, but also much bad. She's really helped me through some tough times over the years and I consider her and her husband to be the kind of kindred spirits that come around only once in a lifetime. They're the kind of people that I can see once a year and we jump back into our friendship as if no time has lasped. I love them dearly and care about them like few other people on this earth. In fact, if circumstances were different I'd move back to Florida for the sole purpose of living near them.

Anyway - that said, last fall we got into a really stupid fight based on a misunderstanding of an event. And because we live so far apart, it was easy for us (both master avoiders) to just stop talking. When I say "easy" I don't mean emotionally so, however. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't miss her dreadfully. But I was proud and stubborn and humiliated by the event and didn't know how to break down and tell her I missed her.

This went on for 6 months. Evidently she emailed me once, but it was to my old email account that I don't check anymore. (too much spam!) It wasn't til one day recently when I got an accidental IM that everything changed.

For fun I'd changed my user name on my IM account to something silly as a joke and so Ali's husband Bobby - thinking I was someone else - sent me a webpage link to something funny he'd found. I IM'ed him back, happy for the excuse to talk to him. During our convo, he told me Ali missed me and was sorry and stuff and that I should email her. I did and she emailed me back and last night I IM'ed her.

We talked til midnight and I'm so happy that we did. It means so much to me to regain her friendship. She has a year old baby and I feel I've missed a good 6 months of him growing up. I don't want to miss anymore.

She jokingly said she's been "stalking me" and my career so if that means reading my blog - Ali I love you and I'm so happy we're talking again. I'm not usually an overly sentimental person - but you and your friendship mean a lot to me and I never want to lose you again.

And as for the rest of you, there's a moral to this story: IM addiction can be a good thing. :P

Marianne