One of my firsts

I just spent the last two (four) hours browsing through my flickr stream and old BlogHer and Blissdom photo streams searching for just one picture of me with Casey.

Two (four) hours and I couldn’t find even one.

Which I think is weird since Casey is someone that I’ve known since the beginning, when I discovered that there were women writing online, honestly and openly about their lives.  I’ve said it a million times before, but these blogs showed me that I wasn’t alone in my struggles in finding my footing in the rocky path of motherhood.  Moosh in Indy was one of my early reads, back in those wild west pioneer days of mommyblogging, back when our blogs were hosted on Blogspot and when we reciprocated every comment.  One of the first posts I read of hers was when she walked right into a plate glass window in Chicago.  I still even remember her first avatar, and it made me want to know her outside of the glow of a computer screen.

Now I can say that I do know her in real life.  She was one of the very first of my online friends that I told my kids real names.  When Carson lost his beloved Lou Bear for a few days, Casey was sweet enough to buy a look-a-like on Ebay to replace him.  And when I moved to Indiana, she welcomed me with open arms and made it that much harder when it was time to move away.

In almost five years, I learned so much from her, acceptance, honesty, love of photography, and what it means to be genuine.  I’m thrilled to celebrate you today, Casey and baby Mozzi.  I’m beyond excited that you are almost at the finish line, full term!!   I can’t wait to see those wee baby toes and see those wee baby outfits.

And the next time we’re together, can we get a picture with just the two of us?