This photo was actually taken yesterday but it seemed too important to miss it out!
When I was pregnant with The Little Miss I joined an antenatal group on Mumsnet and over time that transferred to Facebook. There are still about 60 women in this group and we have shared so many things together; miscarriages, stillbirths, deaths, marriages, physical health problems such as cancer, relationship problems as well as the joys of seeing our babies be born and grow up together. We have been able to watch their lives change and able to share the parenting experience together.
I have long been an advocate of on-line friendships. I am very, very good friends with some people who I first encountered online, indeed we had several couples at our wedding who had both met each other online, and who The Mister and I first met through an online forum. The difference for me is that when there is the opportunity to meet with these individuals, that is when the relationships and friendships are cemented and become truly, truly real.
This was the first time I had met anyone from this ante-natal group and I had the pleasure and privilege of spending a wonderful evening with these three fantastic women. It was like we had met hundreds of times before. We picked up conversations that had only ever existed online and we transferred them through to real life.
Internet forums can be so important in helping to create community. This evening out was evidence of that and my life would be infinitely poorer without all these wonderful women in my lives (and I hope I get to meet many more of them!!!)