Does she have any REAL friends?

*Groaaaaaan* Ugh, it's begun. The concerned questions from the older generation that I'm not "normal" because I write to people on the internet. Steve was talking on the phone last night to a concerned relo who was talking about it. I can just imagine the hushed tones.

"Does she have any *hushed* friends?"
"Yes of course. There's Jan she met online, Rachel she was stalked by and who contacted her..." The list goes on.
"We're worried about her. Perhaps she should join a group. You know, when I was having trouble, I joined a knitting club, perhaps something like that would be good for her."

Yes, and I can really see me fitting in rather uncomfortably with a bunch of people whom I desperately don't want to ask me if I have any children. Because then it'd start again. Do people fully understand just how much of a stigma there is surrounding the parents of a baby who has passed away? I'm fast running out of people who even make eye contact with me as the months wear on and we still don't have a babe in arms anywhere in sight, to tell the real truth! No. Steve and I haven't been fair and relieved these people by producing another offspring. I'm afraid they'll have to be uncomfortable with us a tad longer.

The trouble with the olds of today is..... they haven't moved on from the knowledge that this thing called "the internet or something" is not just a few businesses pushing their wares (sometimes illegally) online. I mean when it first started, it was a bore to search, you couldn't find what you wanted, Broadband wasn't in existence so it took longer than an ep of Family Ties to wait for any sites to download. And now, you can hook up with people you would normally not have the privilege or benefit with whom to do so in real life. I'm thinking of the wonderful friends I've made, locally and interstate, heck and even overseas. We chat often. How lonely, sad and tragic would I be if I was still just kicking around with the same old people I knew from my last job and a few stragglers from high school, just to say that I have friends. I have friends! Four very close ones in particular who would do anything for me, I'm sure, as would I in return. I'm not sure they're not balding 50-something men pretending to be mums who have similar interests to me until I meet them all in person (there's one more and although she says she's given birth and shows us photos of some delectable baby, my father wants to know how can I be "sure" she's not a bloke?), but I'm fairly certain they're female (although you can get some pretty convincing-looking wigs these days).

The truth is, I work from home and don't much feel like socialising these days. I think it's more to do with knowing who I am now and not needing to fit in anywhere, paired with losing Ella of course, and less to do with the fact that I am dysfunctional and should be joining macrame clubs at my local community centre. I have made some of the closest, most decent friends I've had in my entire life over the internet, and have many more people who care about me and whom I care for in return. We do care! We care if we have a good or bad day, we sweat the small stuff and the big stuff with each other. And I for one think it's marvellous.

But tell the older generation and they wouldn't believe yeh.....