When worlds collide

Did you have a brilliant long weekend?

We did.  We got sun, too! Lots of it.  Lots of fun as well, with lots of lovely friends staying - six adults and eight children in total.  It's what we wanted this house to be when we bought it, and it lived up to every expectation.

But now it's over.  Which means I'm looking at the next big social event in my calendar.

Which is, or is supposed to be BritMumsLive (spaces or no spaces, incidentally?). 

Only that's my virtual life. And in my real one that Friday is, I was told last week, L's last official day at nursery, with prize giving and presentation.  And I'm her mummy, and that will only happen once.

And it's not just that.  We've been invited to a lunch on the Sunday (with train times I can't be back here until mid-afternoon) and a big party on the Saturday. They'll be fun, undoubtedly, but it's more than that. We're still, slightly, two years in, finding our feet socially - sizing people up as potential friends, edging our way into circles and cliques, making our mark - and so turning down chances to meet more people and perhaps make new friends seems a mistake.

But that's my real life, and my real world.  What about the virtual one?  What about the fact that the agenda looks really interesting, and, more, that this is my chance to make other real friends, out of the virtual ones I already have?

What about the fact that I've bought a ticket, and am booked on a train?

What would you do?