Friends

Warning, warning, warning! I am about to ramble on about something that I've covered before but with a slightly different twist, I hope! So, please feel free to log off now and dismiss me for being repetitive if you so desire, I said please feel free.... you get my point.

I know I have discussed friends with you before and if my very poor memory serves me correctly, which it often doesn't, it was about "friends" on social networking sites. I realise that I could go back through my Blogs and see what I wrote, way back when, but to be honest, I really can't be arsed. So, you've had fair warning that this may bring back memories but if you don't like it, quit now.

Oh, you've decided to carry on reading then have you? I hope I don't let you down.

I have recently been given cause to think about friends and friendship and what makes someone a friend, or even a good friend, come to think of it, a bad friend. Personally I feel we sometimes confuse friendship with other things, for instance, I may work with someone that I really like and we have a laugh together, does that make them my friend? Or someone I live close to and say hello to on the occasional trip to the shop and of course "chat" to via Facebook, are they a friend?

I don't think that there is an easy straight forward answer to these questions but I just want to say that recently I have been given hope that I know who my friends are and why they are in my life.

As I'm sure you're all bored of hearing, Master Musical has just returned from a trip to Australia to stay with "friends". People that he met via the internet, yes, don't worry, my mother had already thought of it, are they grooming him???? I did of course meet them first when they visited England and I'm sure that if they intended grooming anyone, it would have been far cheaper and easier to have stayed in Australia. I digress.... two lovely families that have been waiting for my first born son to save enough money to visit them for the holiday of a life time. Well, he went and what a time he had, in fact they really are now part of our family it would seem and it looks like we may visit them when we've saved a few pennies and of course they're saving to come and stay here. We will call them friends.

Then there are my lovely friends that I met first through my boys' primary school, all were teachers but I went on to care for their children and through that we became firm friends. We may not see each other all the time but it doesn't matter, we know we're here for each other no matter what and I will love ALL of those children forever, no matter how big they get.... and ladies, they do get big!

I of course can't forget my lovely school friends and how the prettiest girl in school has ended up with the boy we all wanted to be with, jammy bugger. Oh and work colleagues from my many different jobs, please be sure I only add the ones I want to call friends on Facebook, if you're name's not down, you ain't a mate!

But finally the loveliest thing happened a few nights ago when Mr Grumpy decided to borrow a very large ladder to take down the now redundant TV aerial. As I stood at the bottom, watching him ascend, I decided that if his fate was to fall horribly to the ground and die, I'd rather be indoors with a glass of pink watching Cougar Town. So, some time later, when he returned, I asked him if it was all sorted. Well, he obviously didn't die did he? To which he replied that two of our neighbours had seen him looking useless, I mean struggling, dropped what they were doing and came to hold the ladder while he removed the aerial. They obviously didn't care if they had to witness his blood being shed.

My final point, if there really is one to this story, is that friends are what we make of them. Some come and go and then come again.... don't be rude...
Others are with us constantly, a bit like my family.
Some come in to our lives and no matter what happens, how often we see them or whatever differences we may have, stick by us through it all.
But I guess the ones that are nice to have in our lives are the ones that will be there whether blood's shed, they'll hold the ladder and most of all they'll pour the pink, offer a tissue and give us a reason to smile and say thank you.

For the record, if you've read this and stuck with me to the end, you too are a friend and I thank you.