Realwomen.co.nz

After all these years ~ seven perhaps? ~ I still check into RW daily.

Relative to several other RW regulars, I am an infrequent poster. However, I am a v v v regular reader. RW is important to me and has brought quality, daily stimulation and good friends ~ KKKKKaty, Jackie, Ellieann in particular ~ to my life.

On the downside, RW caused ~ or rather, the messageboards facilitated ~ the loss of a fairly longstanding real~life friendship. Someone I knew and had interacted with (and worked alongside!) over many years, and had introduced to RW as a means of connecting with NZ whilst she was living overseas, chose to behave and interact in an aggressive and ugly manner which ultimately destroyed our friendship. V v sad, but so be it.

But it is so wonderful to be part of our RW community which transcends age and geographical barriers. One of the greatest appeals is that we all have such different lives. I love the fact that newlywed Elizabeth has a life so different to Cyberchook, whose life is vastly different from Roseyone whose capacity for loving/giving/working/homeschooling has always astounded, impressed and inspired me. It is a privilege to be privy to the topsyturvyness of RWs' lives ~ to shed a tear over their losses, celebrate their achievements, share in their lives, I love the foreign-yet-in-spirit-connectedness of Forgiven and Jilllie ... imagine if we could all someday meet?!

Those of us RW who have been here for the long haul have been though ~ cyber~ly and in some cases as RW-inspired personal friends ~ loss of parents, cot death, divorces, job-hunting, finding love, redundancies, health challenges, graduations, learning to cook, depression ... in other words, life cycle stuff.

I love that we are so accepting, forgiving, supportive of each other .... Unless and until a spammer, idiot or chanceruser drops into our wee secure community, at which point we might at best passively entertain their flogging their dubious wares, or in fun times taunt (remember the guy with a fetish for long spindley toes?), tease them or tell them to bugger off. we are a very accepting lot. I ~ who has taught thousands of students over the years and interacted with many of their families ~ might think that I've seen/met all types, have learned so much about life from RW.

I have a new and exciting venture ahead this year, in a few months in fact. Whilst the change involves lots of physicall hard yakka and emotional sorting as well, by mid-year I hope I will have shed my old shell and be revelling in assuming my new lifestyle. I am about to sell my home of 15 years and move to an innercity apartment. This is to be my mid-life adventure. It is a fresh and neutral change for Mr Suse and me and an opportunity to shed one shell prior to testing other shells out for fit.