FUN MONDAY..NOT A COMMON PHRASE, IT IS.

As I sat here reading and catching up on all my favourite blogs tonight, I read something neat at janet's blog. It is something she does every Monday called Fun Monday. I have read this every week and enjoyed them, so tonight I decided to join in. Every week, the host of Fun Monday poses a question and everyone that is playing answers it. The following is today's question :

" I want to hear about a web site and not just about any old web site. I want to hear about a web site that's changed your life. A web site that you can't live without. A web site whose inventor you'd like to see win a McArthur Genius Grant."

I have given this some thought...there is a site up here that has definitely affected my life in a major way...but I won't go into that now, as it will be covered in a few weeks during Soap Opera Sunday...lol.

Upon reflection, I think the site that has truly affected my life in the last number of years would be a game site called pogo. I know this probably seems like an odd choice but it is the truth.

Anyone that has played this site has more than likely come across your garden variety badge addict like me....and make no mistake, I AM THAT!!! lol

But this site has given me friendships with people that I treasure more than words could ever describe. They have loved me...supported me...and rallied around me when I needed them most.

I remember one day in particular a number of years ago. It was my birthday and I was feeling blue because I was lonely. My mom was out of town that entire month...I hadn't even met the gnome yet...and no one in my "real" life had remembered my birthday. I was feeling lonely and unloved..

A very special friend of mine (hearts) knew how low I was, even though I didn't want to talk much about it. Instead of pushing me, she invited me to play some cribbage. Shortly after I got into the table, a bunch of my other pogo friends (most of which she didn't even know) turned up at the table for a pogo "birthday party". This simple act of kindness and thoughtfulness lifted my spirits and made me feel so very loved. There are few gifts in life more valuable than that. That birthday started out with me feeling so lonely and now I think of it as one of the most special days I have had.

Another such time of support came on a very terrible day a few years ago. Long story short, the gnome collapsed at work and was rushed to hospital where he almost died from a pulmonary embolism. I was terrified...I sent out a message to a few of my pogo friends telling them what had happened and asking them to pray for us. Within 24 hours, word had gotten out and I was getting emails and pogo mail from players I didn't even know offering me words of support and prayers for the gnome. I also had pogo friends that sent along their phone numbers and a few close friends that told me to call if I needed them and they would travel to Canada to be with me. To say I was stunned by the outpouring of support I received would be an understatement, and it sustained me through some of the scariest days of my life. Thank god the gnome pulled through and is fine.

Again, I know this might seem like an odd choice....but when I think of how empty my life would be without the friends I have met and grown to love from pogo, including Burfica who got me blogging in the first place, I would not be the person I am today without these friends...

So thank you pogo...for not only giving me an addiction to badge day...but giving me friends that I will love forever...I can only hope I have touched their lives as much as they have touched my heart....

As always, to be continued.................