Posted on April 6, 2012 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook

Friendship and Amazing Writers

I don’t have a ton of time today to devote to a huge post, today is the Letter F in the A-Z Blogging Challenge and I chose Friendship. So I thought I would quickly do a post highlighting some of the people I consider awesome friends, who also have awesome blogs. Most are writers, some are not. Could I have waited any later in the day to do this? I’m tired and probably won’t make a bit of sense, but I hope you’ll keep reading anyway. Overlook any typos or things that don’t make sense. They did in my head when I wrote them. ha!

It’s always amazed me how we can meet people online and formulate friendships that even though there is a distance you learn to consider them a friend. I talk about these people in real life as if we went out and had coffee or dinner together. My family knows these people by name, and knows a lot about them. These are people that I feel bonded to in some way, and usually it all starts out so innocent and comes around to this earth shattering connection, so beautiful, but still… different from real life.
These are the people that I would list on a form that said “If you could meet any online friend in person, who would it be?” Yep, these peeps. No doubt.

Melissa Foster – She is the reason I decided to write this post today. I had been thinking about her all day for various reasons and I realized how close to her I feel. Melissa is an amazing gift to me in many ways, but more than anything she is my friend, she is my encouragement, she makes me smile and laugh on a daily basis, even when she doesn’t mean to. She makes me believe in myself and she continues to keep me grounded in my effort to help others, even when it sometimes feels like you’re hitting a wall. Thank you Melissa for all of this. Oh and to the rest of you? Go buy her books. They are amazing. I’ve read all of them at least 3 times and I am very ready for the next one that I am pretty sure I will read at least 3 times.

Sheri from Me And My Tadpole – Sheri is not a writer, but she is a fantastic photographer and a great cook. She takes photographs that are so inspirational and beautiful, she captures beauty in simple objects that the naked eye totally misses. But beyond that, she is a terrific friend. I’ve known her almost a year now and I feel like I’ve been friends with her for years. Like we are sisters almost. She is the first person online that I connected on at this level, and I admire her talents and strengths while absorbing all that is beautiful and wonderful about her. You should go read her blog. Really, it’s awesome. Thank you Sheri, for being my BFFO.

Christina from Solitary Mama – Right now, Christina is rolling her eyes, she is not the mushy type. Christina is a more recent acquisition to the friendship circle, and she might not even realize how much I value her. She keeps me sane nearly every day, she allows me to complain when I need to and offers support, encouragement and friendship. And I keep wondering why me? I mean, I’m not nearly as funny as she is. She’s really funny. She’s sarcastic and man, I cannot tell you how much I love that about her. She tells it how it is, and I love that too. She is bold, beautiful, sweet (yes Christina you are or have been to me!) and one hell of a good single mama. Oh, and she’s a writer, did I mention that? She’s also smart, and I like smart people. I have trouble with the other end. Thank you Christina, for keeping me grounded and sane everyday when I feel like I’m going to lose it!

Justin @ JustinBog – Justin is such a great writer and I had talked lightly with him in a group we were both in, but never had a real conversation for awhile. Our friendship started out so simple. He needed some tech support help. I gave that to him. Sort of. LOL Let’s rephrase that. I tried to help him, but there was no helping the platform he was using so he made a switch and needed some more help, and then again he needed some help again and what wound up happening is that the times we were talking, a  friendship developed and guess what? Now we have conversations that do not revolve around tech support every single time. We talk food, writing, being sick, we talk each other through situations and I’m still there for him for tech support (but he’s learned a lot and doesn’t need as much!) and overall we are now truly friends. I’ve considered Justin a friend for awhile, but recently ….. he sent me brownies. They were so good! That pretty much solidified it. He sent me chocolate brownies. How can I not love him? Justin thanks for being such a great friend, and for understanding and supporting me. It means a lot.

Of course I could keep going and add at least 10 more people, but I wanted to keep this short and sweet and I’m falling asleep as I type, so I’m going to end this list now.

I’m done with the sappy post, back to regularly scheduled programming blogging.Now I have to come up with a letter G for tomorrow. What in the world am I going to blog about the letter G? That is not a fun letter.