. . . well, Japanese restaurants anyway.
Have you ever wondered what the people you chat with every day at the other end of your computer are like ?
A group of us who all frequent the same hep C forum in Australia decided to get together this weekend. Some of us knew each other, some of us didn’t. But I hopped on a train yesterday, hoping none of them were crazed internet axe murderers, travelled 6 hours down to Sydney to meet them, stayed the night and travelled 6 hours back today.
Here’s what I discovered:
We are more than our combined diagnoses. It was hepatitis C that brought us together, but we genuinely enjoyed one another’s company.
Hepatitis C did not form the sole thread of our conversation. We covered families and work and interests and many other topics. We talked a bit about hep C but it was not the main thread of our conversations.
We are fun and funny. For people who by and large have been quite sick and who have had to struggle to get access to trials and treatments, there sure was a lot of humour at the table.
There was genuine interest in the lives of one another. People listened, engaged, conversed.
After a brief moment of "Oh so that’s what you look like!", it was like we’d seen these people every day forever. They just were.
And for those people who think it was crazy to travel so far to meet people I didn’t know, I’d do it all over again without hesitating.
But after the two action packed and less that wonderful train trips I had there and back, I’d probably fly.
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