Rhode

It only took me an hour and a day but I got another favorite added. This one is for my friend Rhode. We have known each other since...um...er its been well over ten years now and we have never met face to face. We met through a FM support site (turns out I do not have), which we both quit and became a support for each other. We were a little more positive than the rest and could only handle so much negativity. In a time in my life when I felt so utterly alone and miserable Rhode was a voice in the dark that gave me a life-line.

Thinking back on it, I'm not sure Rhode realizes how much of a rope she was for me. I had just lost my job due to political bullcrap, I was in pain, Hubby and I were just starting out (So we know whats that like) and I was living in a town I hated. It was not a good scene any way you looked at it. Rhode was like a breath of intelligent fresh air. Our conversations on Chocolate and cooking (I know your hubby cooked but you can too)(this an age old discussion between the two of us), kept me at least sane. We discussed ways of keeping it cheap and of course cats. Rhode's help was invaluable at that point with three cats and one who was hostile. Rhode was one of the first to suggest I try getting some of my work published and said I should look at it seriously. (She is still a voice in my head over it at times)

Rhode won't tell you but I will, she did this amazing web-site. It had a little house that when you clicked on the door it brought you to another page and all kinds of things like it. For me who knows where the on button is, what she did was something my brain still has a hard time wrapping around. Hubby the computer technician and all that other stuff with puters guy was impressed. If he was impressed then I know Rhode did one hell of a job. And honestly Rhode any suggestions to help mine out would be greatly appreciated. She has hidden talents that she is very humble about. Personally I think there is an artist of some kind lurking beneath her shadow just waiting to explode.

Rhode was also the first person on the face of this earth to take me as I was. She never judged me. In a point in my life when that's all I faced doubled with criticism (I will add at this point some of it was my own stupidity but I take only a small part and not the entire thing) Rhode didn't care. She took me and all my quirks, called me friend without judgement.

We have never met face to face, I have heard her voice over the phone and we even tried the Christmas card thing but people move and life happens. We lapse in time in between contact, that's when life is happening, but then a little note or an email and the time doesn't matter. None of it does. You don't need to be sitting beside someone to feel their hand on yours or a hug. We send each other lots. The life-line throughout the years became a ribbon between the two of us. Gently tied yet strong enough to be holding together a package called life. We will always be interwoven, its what happened through chocolate talks and cups of coffee. Well...at least on my end. Oh yeah, I had my coffee addiction even then.

Welcome aboard Rhode. You'll find your groove and when you do, I may need your help on one of my stories.