book club

I heart Facebook, I really do.

It keeps me in touch with family, lets me stalk friends, and allows me to post a million political and football related articles and photos.

Recently I joined a support group for local women whose husbands do FIFO, or DIDO (which, for those of you not in the mining game, means Fly In Fly Out, or Drive In Drive Out)
As an off-shoot of that group, I also joined my first ever bookclub. We met today for a meet-and-greet, and to collect our first book.

All of the ladies involved in the group have husbands who work away. One is married to a man who works on boats, the rest are mining shift-workers.

We 'get' each other. We know how hard it is to be a single mum most of the time, and a wife for a little while.

I think a couple of the ladies know each other already, but most of us are strangers. One of the group moved over here from New Zealand just a couple of months ago, and I hope that she makes friends because it must be horribly lonely for her.

It always make me feel good when I meet a strange bunch of women, and we find ways to connect rather than disagree. I spend a lot of time on-line, and .... well, you know ... the on-line community can be amazing but it can also be really divisive.

I tend to stay at home a lot (and then whinge that life is boring) so it's really good for me to get out of the house and meet people I might not bump into otherwise.

I had thought I might be the oldest one there -- and I am, I think, but only JUST! this is a good thing. There's a nice mix of ages and I'm looking forward to the first 'real' book club meeting.

And the book? is this:

The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.