The Internet - Portal to friendships

I think Tsunaze looks pretty bad ass in this picture.  I love the look on her face.  As if she's saying, "Really, you want a piece of this?" as she takes on a ninja pose.  Tsunaze, is no ninja.  Right now, she is a shadow priest, trying to make her way to 100.

Chinese to you? Yeah, if you haven't played World of Warcraft, it probably is.  You may have seen commercials announcing the latest "Expansion" for WoW.  Worry not if you haven't.  I won't be speaking about which quests I'm currently on, what my iLevel is at, and which dungeons I'm looking forward to.  I started playing again this weekend with this latest release of the game.  I always find them fun.  I've been playing this game, on and off since sometime in 2005.  Along the way, I made some really good friends - Soraxen, Acroyear, Calex, Ronho, Jeager, Mervyn and so many others.  Okay so those are their screen names, but I also know them as Brian, Al, Ann, Mo, Will and Jon.  

You see, the internet can be a place where you meet wonderful people.  I've met wonderful ladies through the BBC loss forums.  I met amazing women, inspirational women through blogs.  And in WoW, I made some everlasting friendships.  For several years, we "hung out" together several times each week, working as a team, toward a goal of defeating "evil" monsters in WoW.  Some battles took months to conquer.  But we did it, and the cheers over "Ventrilo", a voice over IP software we used to talk to each other as we did "battle" were so much fun to here and partake in.  Forever, our battle song was Jeager's bottle opener.  It's okay if you don't get this one ;)

Speaking of Jeager, he kind of inspired this post by contacting me this morning, letting me know that he had donated to the American SIDS Institute to honor Preston and also let me know that he reads my blog all the time.  #SpreadHappinessForPreston has continued on today!  I was so touched, because we haven't really played WoW together in a long time, yet that friendship was built over the internet, and it created a bond, where we all really care about each other.  Sure, there were so duds along the way, Ciera the mage anyone? Hehe.  But, for the most part, we had a great bunch of people within our guild, our group.  Some have come and gone.  Some have returned and left again.  Some visit seldom, but a lot of us have stayed in touch, whether we are still playing or not.

I've met several of my guildmates, in the flesh.  We visited Sean, Ann and Al in 2007.  I met Brian and Davide for dinner in Denver last year.  Brett had dinner with Allan and I think Carl was there too.  We had breakfast this summer in Denver, with Mo and his wife Sarah, who also plays WoW but I haven't had the chance to play with her much.  Steven attended our wedding!  We had dinner with Chris (Modrid) in Boulder a few years back.  And, we also met Simon, who was visiting his friend in Colorado and he surprised Brett for his birthday. We stopped by David's place while he lived in Toronto.  Gosh, I miss Lumps now!

The internet can be filled with crazies, that is for sure.  But, when you spend as much time as we did together.  When you bond, whether it be trying for months to defeat a monster while playing a game or you bond because you've had a similar experience like the loss of a child, you can form bonds that are ever lasting.  You can form true friendships.

With the magic of the internet, and these friendships that were formed, happiness was spread in so many different places.  Colorado, Quebec, Ontario, Nevada, Maryland, Alberta, South Africa, Wyoming, Idaho, Hawaii, California, Illinois, Washington, Missouri.  I'm sure there were a lot more places that I'm just not aware of.  I've been amazed to see where I've had readers.  The majority are in the States and Canada, but I've still had quite a few in other countries.  The diagram below doesn't show every country, but it shows the top ones, all time.  I always get excited when I see a country I haven't seen pop up before.  It makes me smile, to think my little guy, is travelling the world, one person at a time.  Thank you Internet.  Thank you for crossing my path with so many special people.  Thank you for allowing me to keep in touch, with old friends and family.  Thank you for being like a magical portal for friendships.

Laughter

On this 6th day of my 30 days of gratitude challenge I am thankful for laughter.  Laughter is the best medicine.  That's a saying right?  I don't know that I'd agree that it's the best medicine, but it's a pretty darn good one.  Laughter will help you through tough times.  Laughter will cheer you up on a sad day.  Laughter is infectious.  Laughter can be one of the purest and most honest emotions.  And there's nothing quite hearing children laughing, now is there?

Being 16 weeks old when he passed, Preston didn't really get a chance to experience laughter.  He did have giggles though, and they were the sweetest sound.  It was this little high pitched yip.  Loved that sound.  Could have listened to it all day.  He would have loved laughing, and he would have laughed so much.  His dad can be so silly...and if you get him laughing enough, his laugh gets out of control and it's so contagious.  I hope you get to laugh and giggle all day wherever you are.

Just about an hour ago we started looking at "fail" signs on the internet after seeing a great one a friend of mine shared on Facebook (thanks Jamie - it made for an evening filled with laughter).  It was on a school bulletin board - "We appreciate our librarian gang prevention meetings" because you know, "librarian gangs are a real problem".  Quite honestly that was one of the best ones that we saw.  Another one which had us laughing showed two doors with signs stating "Do not block" and a heavy wood chest clearly blocking the doors with a sign stating "do not move".  What do I do? I'm so confused? Unblock the door? No can't move the chest!  Maybe you had to be there.

When Crohn's started causing me more and more problems, I would watch Friends a lot.  It was predictably funny, I knew nothing bad was going to happen, and it was just comforting.  I've probably seen every episode over 200 times, and I still laugh every single time I see an episode.  "Could I be wearing any more clothes?"  "You know, like a cow's opinion.  It doesn't matter.  It's moo."  "PIVOT!!!!"  "He's a transponster!!"  Haha, that show was really witty, and I appreciate it's existence so much.  It's become my ritual to put on Friends (and now Big Bang Theory or Modern Family), when I feel ill.  It's also a ritual to fall asleep to it.  I'd stopped watching TV before bed when Preston was alive, but I can't stand the silence anymore.  My mind wanders and I just can't sleep.  The background noise makes it easier.  Hopefully it's not something that stays forever... but in the meantime, it's a comfort.

Tonight, it is Modern Family that's on.  Right now, the episode where Phil has to get the printer to work at Jay's and where Gloria cooks a Columbian meal.  That scene where she has Jay try to scare the chicken from the spirits...Ed O'Neill kills me.  Which reminds me, I still need to watch a Robin Williams' movie marathon which includes Mrs. Doubtfire, and probably Aladdin.  What a great Genie he made.  :)

Laughter has been part of our lives since Brett and I met.  Laughter would have been part of every day in this household with Preston.  He may no longer be present on Earth, but his spirit lives through us, we think of him every day, and all we can do is keep on keeping on.  And sometimes, that means, stopping to laugh.  If  I can, I laugh every day.  By no means does this lessens the emptiness my son has left behind.  It simply reminds me that there are good things in my life.  There are things to be happy about, to smile about, to hope for, to be grateful for.  It certainly isn't a cure-all, or the best medicine, but it's a pretty darn good one.