E Me

Thank you to Yahoo! Mail for sponsoring this post about staying connected. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity.

Do you and your BFF have a language all your own? My BFF and I do. We've known each other for so long and through so many different incarnations that we often communicate in an abbreviated fashion. For instance, when ever my BFF and I part ways she'll give me a hug and say "E-me".

My name is Amy and if I had my choice it would be something much more exotic like Shiloh or Alexandria or Magnolia - actually the list goes on and on. So whenever we go anywhere that requires a reservation, historically, we have given my name, only we say it with a great deal of sarcasm and very much in a nasal tone, which makes it sound like Eeeee-meeeee.

But then a funny thing happened. Eeeeeee-meeee, the affectionate play on my name turned into E-me, as in "Email me later". Because the next thing to being there, is being able to chat via email during the day.


My friend and I both have two young children and we both work full time. Neither one of us have time to spend hours, or really, even minutes catching up with each others lives on the phone. There is simply no time. Plus, you know that when you talk to someone on the phone, it can go on much longer than you expected or you might find yourself in that uncomfortable position of not being able to get off the phone mid-conversation without feeling guilty for cutting someone off, let's say  -- in the event that there is a toddler standing right in front of you peeing on the floor.

But my Yahoo! email account (which actually includes the name "amy") gives me the chance to touch base with good friends who are like me, way too busy to meet for lunch, spend an hour on the phone or simply able to hang out and talk to each other without constant requests for shoe-tying, snacks or attention from little people.

Through out the day we are able to complain about how many cookies we have to bring to school that week, compare the benefits of bikini bottoms from Old Navy vs. The Gap and best of all, sneak in inside jokes to make each other laugh. Everybody should have that during a busy or stressful day. It's important to reach out and share with each other. Even when you think you don't have time.

So by all means, Email your BFF today and remind her of that time she did that thing that made you laugh so hard you almost cried. It just might make you smile too.

Email Love

Thank you to Yahoo! Mail for sponsoring this post about staying connected. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity.

We all have email, right? Spend hours of our days/weeks/months reading it, sorting it--even anticipating it! I know I do. I love to hit the refresh button and see what pops up. Even the emails that I don't need. I still love to see it and scroll through it. It keeps my day interesting and makes me feel connected to people and places that are far outside the reach of the office chair where I spend a lot of my day.

I set up my Yahoo! email account in at least 2003. The reason? Love.

I didn't own a computer in 2003. I had one at work that I could use, but no email access. My husband, (an IT guy,) did. It's hard to believe that there was a time way back before cell phones and texting kept us connected but there was and during that time, I was MADLY in love with my boyfriend who became my husband. It was so hard to go ALL DAY without talking or communicating with each other. Infatuation. Sigh.

Someone in my office had a computer with email access (remember this was almost a decade ago) and I found a way to back her up when she was out of the office so I could exchange emails with my lover boy. Sometimes it was just a quick email with no message but a subject that said "GMB" which stood for Good Morning Baby. Just seeing that would send shock waves through my fingertips all the way up to my infatuated brain. Sometimes it would say *swoon* I love you.

Having these little email exchanges would keep my spirits up and my relationship exciting. I really believe that during our courtship, through our constant stream of email we learned how to talk to each other. In those early days we created a foundation through my Yahoo! email account for a partnership that is still going strong.

I'm also incredibly grateful that our history is just a few clicks away. I can open my email account, sort my email to the oldest date and look back at a loving email message I received from someone on an ordinary Thursday that made my whole week.

So what are you waiting for? I know you've got three minutes today. That's all it takes to send that special person in your life a quick email that says I adore you. It's kind of like this:

XOXO,

Me