Friendship

Warning: this is a cheesy cheesy post.

About 18 months ago I posted a whole long thing about friendship and how lucky I am to have such special people in my life. I’m not always the best friend that I could be, I‘m really busy, I’m away a lot, I don’t always notice what’s going on around me until my friends have found other people to talk to or else they bash me over the head and tell me to shut up.

A last week I had a really awful day. Everything went OK, but I had some realisations about things and it made me really depressed – the joy of being alone in the bush is that you’re trapped in a place with your own thoughts – things that wouldn’t usually upset me really do here because I have no distractions (except the whole farm being on fire thing. Thanks guys).

Then tonight while I talked it all through with CG on MSN, Leia on G-talk and someone else on Facebook I realised just how amazing my support system is. A lot of the time it feels like nobody even notices that I’m gone, but I realised that just because they’re living their lives doesn’t mean I don’t play a part in them, no matter how small.

A while ago I dated this guy, very briefly (very very briefly) and I wasn’t in a good place and treated him badly and we decided it was better to try and save a friendship and move on. And the other day out of nowhere I got a message from him, just checking up on me and thinking of me, and it was one of the most special things I’ve ever had – it came at just the right time! And I realised how much I don’t deserve it, I was a horrible person to him. sometimes I think we write people off without realising how much they mean to us.

So anyway long sob story over, I once again proclaim that it isn’t international friendship day, but I think that it is friendship day in my little universe.

10 things I love about my friends:

1. I can be away for months at a time and when I get back it’s like I never left. Even now that I’m a little bit nervous about going home, I know there are people excited to see me again and that makes it not so scary!
2. Laughter. I don’t think I have a single friend with whom I haven’t laughed until my sides hurt. It’s the most amazing experience ever.
3. Learning: we’re all from very different walks of life and that’s OK. From friends I’ve learned about law, rocks, martial arts, investment finance, economic modelling, music, languages and life in general. Nobody ever discounts my opinion as silly because I don’t understand and I work in such  different arena, and as long as I ask questions they’re happy to help me to learn. Sometimes I get to explain things to them too. (they still think I’m crazy at times though)
4. They’re not afraid to tell me when I overstep a boundary and not afraid to tease and accept teasing in return.
5. We have fun. Lots of fun!
6. I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not anymore. By not having to pretend to be the Fun one, the Spontaneous one or the Quirky one I find that I am actually fun, spontaneous and quirky anyway and I don’t have to stress about it!
7. They go along with my crazy schemes. That takes courage, determination and complete insanity! I’m’ lucky to have them!
8. Wine on rooftops.
9. If you’ve ever had a conversation with someone and suddenly realised you’ve been talking for more than a few hours – that’s what we do!
10. Acceptance. I’m a bit odd at the best of times. I have a family that works on a Sunday morning and can’t wait up for me on a Saturday, yet I’ve never had a problem finding someone to offer me a couch or a spare bedroom. I get weird illnesses (occupational hazard of working with animals) and they ever complain if I change my RSVP because I can’t actually make it out the door without collapsing. I get angry when we watch documentaries, I’m obsessed with guitar hero. And they love me anyway!

I think we don’t appreciate the people around us enough, so if you want to list special things about your friends, I name this official Friendship Appreciation Day. Just let me know!