I love my girlfriends– they’re wonderful and supportive and funny and pretty much the coolest people I know. And I pray that I can be a wonderful and supportive friend to them as well. But right now, I’m having a hard time figuring out how to do that when one of my friends is royally screwing up.

Megan (not her real name) has been married for 11 years and has two precious children. I don’t know her husband very well, but he’s always seemed like a great guy. And, while I know they’ve had their ups and downs in marriage (what marriage doesn’t?), she’s always seemed happy.

Until two weeks ago. When she moved out and moved in with another guy.

I’m still shocked. She called me up non-nonchalantly and asked about my kids and my family and my pregnancy and then she dropped the bomb: “Oh, by the way, I don’t love my husband anymore. The love is gone. And I don’t really like being a mom anymore. So, I left. I’m now living with this guy Matt that I met at work. He’s so funny and wonderful and everything I’ve been missing in a relationship…”

*stunned silence*

Then: “Erin, aren’t you happy for me?!”

I didn’t know what to say. Of course I want her to be happy but my heart breaks for her husband. Her kids. And the last thing I want to do is condone what she’s doing. I obviously don’t know what happened in her marriage or her life to make this happen, but by telling her I’m happy, I tell her I think it’s okay.

Part of me wants to call up her husband and see if he needs help with the kids or meals or something…after all, he was the one that was abandoned. But she would KILL me. And part of me wants to just stay away from her until she comes to her senses. And part of me wants to take her out to coffee and ask her why.

Any advice?

Yesterday, I was chatting via email with two of my writing and blogging buddies Joanne Kraft and Kathi Lipp. A conversation about our husband’s coffee-drinking habits turned into a chat about our husband’s hair care habits (and yes, honey, if your reading this, I told them you use more expensive hair products than I do… I couldn’t help it) and in the midst of our back-and-forth, I found myself laughing hysterically and feeling this amazing bond with two people that I know almost completely through the blogosphere.

Don’t blogging buddies rock? Don’t get me wrong, I love my real-life friends, too, but my blogging buddies are special. They get me. They get what I do every day. And they’re willing to share their lives, their ups, their downs, their triumphs and their failures every day for all the world to see.

6 Reasons Why Blogging Buddies Rock

1. They’re hilarious. Hormonal pregnancy mood swings? Nope, I’m not the only one. A Facebook faux pas? Apparently a lot of us gen-xers make them. And, bloggers are never afraid to air their mistakes for all the world to read.

2. They’ll promote your work without you even asking. I’m amazed at how many of my blogging friends have written reviews on my book or tweeted my blogs without my even asking. How nice is that?

3. They have amazing work for you to talk about. Can you believe how amazingly talented people are on the blogosphere? When I read through my posts from my feed, I am amazed by the depth, by the creativity and by the amazing writing I find.

4. They’re transparent. For some reason, the world wide web seems a bit safer to air dirty laundry than, say, in a quiet coffee shop corner talking to your best friend. So, bloggers tend to tell it like it is—and let their feelings and thoughts shine through even when they know that everyone (and their mother) could be reading it.

5. They don’t care what you’re wearing… or how many pounds you’ve gained. There’s a teensy chance that I’ve gained a few more pounds than I should’ve this pregnancy. Okay, so I’m huge. But my bloggy friends don’t know that. For all they know, I’m sitting here in a pair of size 2 skinny jeans looking hot mama as ever. And, shallow as that is, I kinda like that about them.

6. They have husbands and jobs and kids just like me—yet they still find time to connect. We’re all busy. I get that. But my blogging buddies always seem to find the time to connect and read and write anyway.

Question for you: Why do you love your blogging buddies?