Good Things about being a Guild Mum

OK, after yesterday's whine things are a bit better today. We went to Karazhan last night and killed some stuff. The sun is shining. I've had a lie in. I've been remembering some of the lovely things guild members have done to cheer up their Mum in the past.

Some time ago I had another rant (hmmm - maybe I have too many of these episodes - nah - was 2 months ago - that's aaages). Most of the Council were away or busy, almost all the raid leading fell to me and something happened where I was accused of abusing my position on the Council. It's all been cleared up and sorted now, but at the time I was mad, sad, at quite an all-time low in my WOW playing. It was about this time that I decided to have some "me" time and really upped my pet collecting.

I noticed a friend in STV a lot over the next week. He's a LOVELY guy, but often a loner. He's into levelling alts so when I asked what he was up to he said "collecting mageweave" and I thought nothing of it - presumed he was levelling tailoring on one of his characters. A few days later I had a note in the post which explained that he was very sad that I had been feeling so low and he wanted to do something to cheer me up. The letter made me cry. I have a copy of it, but it's probably not fair to link it here. Anyway - attached was one of the rarest pets in the game. The beautiful [Parrot Cage (Hyacinth Macaw)]. This lovely, lovely person had farmed and farmed and farmed. I forget how many stacks of cloth he got from the farming, but I was incredibly touched.

I posted this on our guild forums - ever helpful thinking of the men in the guild...

The Hormone Hostage knows that there are days in the month when all a man has to do is open his mouth and he takes his life in his own hands! This is a handy guide that should be as common as a driver's license in the wallet of every husband, boyfriend, or significant other!

DANGEROUS: What's for dinner?
SAFER: Can I help you with dinner?
SAFEST: Where would you like to go for dinner?
ULTRA SAFE: Have some chocolate

DANGEROUS: Are you wearing that?
SAFER: Gee, you look good in brown.
SAFEST: WOW! Look at you!
ULTRA SAFE: Have some chocolate

DANGEROUS: What are you so worked up about?
SAFER: Could we be overreacting?
SAFEST: Here's fifty quid.
ULTRA SAFE: Have some chocolate

DANGEROUS: Should you be eating that?
SAFER: You know, there are a lot of apples left.
SAFEST: Can I get you a glass of wine with that?
ULTRA SAFE: Have some chocolate

DANGEROUS: What did you do all day?
SAFER: I hope you didn't over-do it today.
SAFEST: I've always loved you in your dressing gown!
ULTRA SAFE: Have some more chocolate.

A few Saturdays later I was having a lie-in, but it wasn't going so well, I'd been woken a few times and was starting to get a bit agitated about all these interruptions to my sleep. The doorbell went. My husband came up to the bedroom with an ENORMOUS box, post-marked Germany. Germany? I don't know anybody in Germany. I don't recognise the name of the sender. What the hell is it? I open it up and inside are 5 colour coded packets - each one containing about 5 bars of chocolate. A guild friend, on the post I'd made, had decided to send me some chocolate. He got my address from my Dad and had sent me about 3kg of chocolate. The packets were for the trouble he had caused in the past, that he would cause in the future, for experimental times, for sweet times and for hot boss fights (this one had Chili chocolate in - eeek).

At this point I think my husband finally realised the effect I have on the game and the people in it, how it affects me and how much more it is to me than "just a game". These people in my guild are not meaningless pixels to me, they are real people, with real feelings - I love them all, I treat them the same way as I would any of my "real life" friends. I show them respect, kindness, patience (most of the time) and these are the sorts of things I get in return. Oh, now I'm getting all emotional again thinking about it.... time for a cup of tea.