Friendship

So my dear friend Linda has been staying with me. Linda and I have been friends for many years now... I call her the older, wiser and infinitely more organised version of me. And its been so lovely... We have chatted, hugged, walked by the sea, shared our troubles and our happiness, slumped on the couch critiquing this season's "Idol", cooked and eaten yummy food, walked the dog and generally been so relaxed and happy just to hang out together. And it gives me cause to take a moment to appreciate the wonderful friendships in my life, and the value of friendship itself.
At the same time another of my friends is mourning the death of her friend. And again it gives me cause to appreciate how much I love the people who I call my friends... and how colourless my life would be without them.
I think to some people friendships are the topping in life... they are the added pleasures in a day... a treat at the end of a long week. For me they are indeed this - but they are also more than this. To me my friends are the constellations I steer my life by. I know that some people are more internally oriented in their mapping of life, but for me it is through the people I love that I find my paths and directions in life. My friends are the mirrors in which I see myself... and the works of art that make my world worth living in. In my relationship with my friends I open the doors of my heart and mind and in sharing myself, I learn about myself. And too my friends show me windows into their lives and experiences...teaching me about feelings, thoughts, ideas, and the world. I learn more from my friends than I could ever learn in a book or on the internet. I grow more in my friendships than I ever would following solitary self development plans.
So I give thanks.... to my old friends who I have known and loved, and who have known and loved me, for many years.... through changes in city, changes in country, changes in life...you are the solidity under my feet as I plod forward on this new adventure. Maybe you didn't vote me in as the most "fun" person...but you have convinced me time and again that I am worth loving, that I have something of value to offer the world, and that - with your support - I can do anything. I hope so much that I have shared a little of this kind of thing with you... and have let you know how much you are appreciated in my life! Thinking through your faces and the memories they bring fair warms the cockles of my heart!
And to my new friends... my girls! You rock!.... diverse and wonderful, you make me feel like I have found yet another new family, colourful, full of laughter, able to cry together and hold each other's hands on tough days... I am awe-inspired by my luck in finding you in this city I now call home.