Parallel spirits

I have a friend that I've never met.  Kind of like pen pals from the days of yore.  Her name is Erin.  She writes a blog called, http://frompradatopayless.blogspot.com/

When I first moved home and started to accept and deal with my current situation, my sister suggested I check out Erin's blog because she thought that I would probably relate to a lot that Erin is going through.  
And she was right.  We were/are both struggling with a lot of things, financially.
We both have young children that we're raising and trying to do our best under financial strains.
Our day to day stuff is different.  She's married to the love of her life, but is completely without outside help, financially. I am single, recently divorced, but am fortunate enough to have my parents to help me out financially.  I live in their house with my boys, and my Mother LOVES shopping for the boys.  School clothes are a non issue.  It's my Mom's favorite thing to do- shop for her grandchildren.
I have an insane amount of debt, thanks to John, my ex..  So day to day money is extremely tight.  I get a check every month from the sale of a bar that John and I once owned on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.  He wanted a piece of it too, but the judge kind of gave him the look as if to say, "seriously dude??"  and awarded me the monthly payments that just about cover the minimum payments of my numerous  credit cards that John opened and ran up in my name.  but I digress...

Back to Erin.  So glad to have "met" Erin.  We have gotten to the comfort level where she can insult my gardening on facebook, and I can crack wise on the pictures she posts.  I've never set eyes on Erin, but I feel more comfortable expressing my thoughts and fears to her than I do to girls I grew up with and / or spent a million hours with in highschool.  Thanks Erin. :)