End of an Era - almost

Today a crowd of us met up at Kiki's - a gorgeous soft play facility in Northshields. Why - well to say a formal goodbye to Jo and Naomi. Yes our group is being split up. Jo, Ramesh and Naomi are leaving for Coventry - its all Ramesh's fault - his contract as Resident up here is over and now he has to go and be a Dr somewhere else. Just not fair.

Anyway - I hold in my anger (smile) and will return to the morning of celebration. Ruth and Josh kindly came and picked me and Dylan up, still not driving, still very annoying. Josh is lovely and his language skills are great. Ruth thinks he is far more tempermental than Dylan but I think he is just different.

We headed into the cabin, fighting the wind, and met up with all the girls and babies - sorry toddlers. Kiki's is such a gas. The little ones can run round like mad dervishes, its a totally soft and safe environment.

I have to admit though that as one of the girls, Ruby, was running round I noticed an older man following..I'd never seen him before so kept an eye on him. Ruby ran up to the bouncy castle area and he followed her. So that was me, following him -instantly fearing that something nasty was happening. I got to the Bouncy castle area and kept a careful eye on Ruby. It was only when Ruby called the strange man Granddad did I back off laughing at myself. I went and told Susan, Ruby's mum, and she found it hilarious that I thought her dad was a perv....

After running, climbing, sliding, jumping we all headed into the party area where the kids were treated to chicken bits, chips, sausage rolls and other party goodies. Annette made a gorgeous speech - which brought on the tears - and then presented Jo with a collation of photo's of Naomi, Jo and all their friends. Annette had gone to Asda and got them to put it into book form. If you want a present a totally great idea. A oil painting of Tynemouth Longsands, the beach we played on. And finally a cake with sheep on. Jo is mad about sheep. Tears were cried and hugs abound. I know we are going to see Jo and Naomi over the next week, but it suddenly dawned on me that she is leaving for real.

Its been an honour to be one of Jo's friends. She is such a gorgeously open person, who listens, laughs and loves freely. She is down to earth, easy to talk to and a joy to be with. We have gone through child birth and the following months, years of difficulties, she is one of my unique friends. Naomi is one of Dylan's first friends, I hope time and distance will not stop this friendship from continuing. There are only the 5 of us who have shared this experience and it seems so sad for one of my NTC friends to be leaving me.