24/50 Miracle! Did I make a new friend?

The okra I'm growing in my home garden.

Even though I gave it plenty of water this morning,
when I looked in the early afternoon, the large leaves
were drooping and wilted.

That's how intense the sunlight and extreme heat are.

I have to be careful about heatstroke.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves as well.

Anyway, something miraculous happened today!
"Making a new friend"

It was something I wrote down while half-resigned.

With the current social situation,
the prenatal classes and parenting classes I had planned to attend
during my pregnancy have all been canceled
by both local governments and obstetric clinics.

I myself also want to avoid places that get crowded,
especially considering the baby in my belly,
so I try to stay away as much as possible.

Basically, I'm just staying home all the time, so I never thought I'd be able to make a new friend.

But, a miracle happened!

Today, I went to the drugstore to buy daily necessities.
I wasn't planning on buying baby goods, but I was checking to see if they sold things like special detergent for washing baby bottles,
just in case...

Suddenly, someone spoke to me.

The first thing I thought was...

"Oh, this is way too suspicious..."

I am a very skeptical person.

I assume that most people who talk to me on the street
are trying to recruit me for something or are part of some cult-like group.

*Because that has actually been the case so far...
They skillfully try to lure you in with words that don't feel threatening, like cooking schools or reading circles.
(By the way, I've never been scammed.)

Because of that,
I was very suspicious, but
I decided to at least listen to what they had to say.

It seems that person does volunteer work for a child-rearing organization.
Like a parenting circle?
I didn't really understand it well.

Just in case, I asked for the name of the organization.
So I could look it up later.
(If it's a legitimate organization, it should show up in a search.)

As we were talking,

"That must be so hard... that's amazing."

I was told this, but it surprised me to think that from an outsider's perspective, my current state is considered "hard" and "amazing." There are difficult moments, but I'm not that desperate, and while childbirth is certainly nerve-wracking, I'm taking it easy, trusting that my future self will somehow manage to get through it.

Due to the current social situation, it seems they are canceling events for now, but they mentioned they plan to hold them regularly in the future and invited me to join if I'd like. Afterward, we exchanged LINE contacts.

I wonder what kind of atmosphere these gatherings have...

I'm interested, but if it's just a place to vent our mutual frustrations by saying, "That's tough, isn't it?" then I'd rather avoid it.
(Sorry for being harsh...)
What kind of philosophy do they have,


and what kind of value can they provide by gathering?
If I were to become part of the management, I'd want to think about that,
I thought while listening to them.
(Thinking like this, I guess I'm not really thinking as a participant...)

"I made a new friend!"Whether that's true or not,
I still have some doubts,
but because they reached out to me,
I was given a seed of connection.
I was able to become conscious of community building.

I felt that was something to be grateful for.
Talking to someone I didn't know was interesting.

Thank you for reading again today.

When an unexpected reality suddenly appears before you, what do you do?

Run away?

Or, accept it?