Announcing in Real Life

I’m sure most friendship groups these days have some kind of virtual group to which they all belong. Whether it is a Whatsapp group or a Face-Space message thread, it has become the go-to way for groups to stay in touch. Our thread has been going for eight years and is full of announcements; breakups, make-ups, engagements, pregnancies, promotions and unfortunately an array of unfortunate news too. I wanted to make my most recent announcement face to face so I arranged a girls lunch! I didn’t let anything slip before they all arrived but once they were all there I couldn’t hold it in any longer. ‘James and I are buying a house’! I literally shouted it at them before anyone had even cut a bagel. Of course, Trish was straight in there recommending me her buyers advocate specialising in Melbourne homes. She then managed to drum up a congratulations having emailed me all the details of the buying agent she uses. I told them all the details. A beautiful three bedroom detached modernised Bayside home with its very own heated pool and entertainment complex. They’ve known that James has been doing well for a while so I suppose it’s not a major shock that we chose to seriously upgrade after the wedding.  I could see the jealousy on a few of their faces but of course Trish was mainly concerned about us using her buyer’s agent based in Melbourne and Jen, beautiful sweet Jen, was purely and selflessly happy for us. I am glad I chose to share the news in person, some things just seem too big for a simple online message. I didn’t want this to just become another message in an ongoing stream of the lives of women. It seems I have started a trend. This weekend we are all headed to Isobel’s to hear her latest news, we’ve all noticed she’s been piling on the pounds so it’s either baby or fat camp.