I am so thankful today for a group of friends I made on the Internet. I am totally not kidding. I never thought I would be one of those people, chatting to friends online like they were real…but I am and I do.

I connected with a group of girls who were all due in August 2013. There are about 100 of us in a secret Facebook group. We have shared a lot in the past year – more than I ever thought. I have literally cried with some of the women. The biggest blessing from them happened today. One of the girls, A, contacted me after she saw my Facebook post about looking for a home for my grandpa’s cat. Since grandpa had to be moved out of his assisted living apartment and into memory care where cats are not allowed, Morris the cat needed a new home. No one in my family could take him.

I met A IRL (in real life) a couple of months ago because she lives just up the road from me in the Twin Cities. Turns out, she also grew up in the same area of Northeast Iowa as I did. A let her mom, a vet in a nearby town, know about the situation. A’s mom is a going to foster him while we try to find a home for him. Taking the cat was much harder than I anticipated today because it felt like I was saying goodbye to a part of grandpa too, but A’s mom made it so much easier.

To Internet friends…especially those who turn into real-life friends.