Three things...

We had a rather nice treat last night, with a visit from our friends Nick & Maureen who are in town for a while. They came for dinner, and over the course of the evening I was struck by three different things.

The first thing: I was reminded of how important it is to always, always, always read the entire recipe when planning to make a dish. That way you won't realize after you start making said dish that it is going to need to simmer for an hour before you can finish making it. Causing dinner to be late. Very late. And then because you won't be feeling rushed, you won't forget to put some of the ingredients in. Causing dinner to be edible, but rather monochromatic. (It was a beef stew, and I forgot to add the green veggies, so everything was red and orange.)

The second thing: I am turning into my grandmother. Whenever anyone visits my grandmother, she will not allow them to leave her house empty-handed. It may be cookies, it may be a side of beef, or a set of decorative tins, but you will be taking something with you when you leave. TC pointed out last night that I do the exact same thing. Poor Nick & Maureen - I wouldn't let them leave last night without taking some grape jam and 2 kinds of soap. At least it wasn't decorative tins :)

The third thing: I'm not quite sure yet how to articulate this one, so please bear with me if I seem to be rambling - there is a point, I promise :) I've known Nick & Maureen since my earliest university days. Maureen I knew sort of in passing - it was a small university, so everyone knew everyone, but we travelled in different circles. Nick was someone that I hung out with on a regular basis, so we became good friends. Life happened, as it usually does, and I didn't see either of them for several years.

Then a couple of years ago, we reconnected through facebook. I learned that they had a blog and became a regular visitor, which has helped me to know Maureen quite a bit better, since she does most of the blogging over there. We also share an enjoyment of tea stores and yarn crafts (though she's a knitter and I'm a crocheter - for the uninitiated, that's sort of like being a Capulet and a Montague), and discovered that we're both part of the online community at Ravelry. Then when I started this blog, Nick & Maureen were some of its first readers and commenters. So when they came to visit last night, it didn't feel to me like we hadn't seen each other in years, although in reality it had been years. Instead, while it was a treat to be able to be with them in person, it was more like we were continuing a conversation that had already been taking place.

It became clear at a couple of points during the evening, though, that this was not the case for TC. As you may or may not have guessed by this point, my husband is a bit of a Luddite, at least in some respects. We do not own a cell phone, and although he's comfortable using email, TC does not and will not participate in any other form of online communication. He does read this blog, and will read entries from the blogs of people we know if I bring them up and put them in front of him and tell him he should read them, but that's about it. And to be completely honest, he's not entirely comfortable with the extent of my own participation in the online world, though he's always supportive. So for him, it wasn't just the first time he'd seen Nick & Maureen in years, it was the first time he'd interacted with them at all in years. And if he wasn't married to me, he would have gone on in that sad Nick & Maureen-less state for who knows how long!

I'm not saying that online communities should or can replace face-to-face interactions with people. There's something important about physical presence in any kind of relationship - that's why it was such a treat to actually spend time with Nick & Maureen. But at the same time, I guess I was struck last night by how friendships that might otherwise never have been possible can be started, renewed and/or maintained through the medium of the internet. It's really a rather amazing thing, when you think about it. Which I did. Until way too late last night. Which is probably why this such a rambling post. Sorry.