Friends: The greatest of gifts

i read a post by Sammie over at The Annoyed Thyroid today about her friends and the long goodbyes at the airport when she leaves her UK friends to come back to Australia. It got me thinking a lot about my best friends. 

I’m lucky enough to have the most amazing friends; some near, some far. But they’re all the very best! 

My friends that live close by, I don’t know what I’d do without them. They are my rock, my company and my sounding board for all my crazy ideas! We stay up late playing boardgames and having a takeaway dinner (so there’s more time for playing. Naturally!). They’re my cheersquad, but also my shoulder to cry on. Nothing is too much to ask them. And that’s just two people I’m thinking of there! They have nicknames. They are Batman and Tinkerbell. And I wouldn’t be who I am today without them! 

Some of my other friends who live close by, we have a very different friendship. We’ve been through a lot together. We’ve seen the worst in situations, but always seen the best in each other. Through all the trying times, we’ve never said a harsh word to each other. Never snapped in a moment of emotion and feel more like family than anything. Her beautiful twin girls call me Aunty Nat…they love me, and I love them. We aren’t biological family, but that’s ok. To us, we are family. 

Then there’s my interstate friends. Not quite close enough geographically to visit regularly, but that makes the visits we do get extra special. One of my interstate friends, her son calls me Aunty Nat too. And it’s the cutest thing! He does it so lovingly, “I love you Aunty Nat”. It’s moments like that which melt your heart. When I visit, airport goodbyes are the hardest part. I’ve been known to manage the hugs without (too much) emotion, but walking through the gate to the aeroplane as they walk away…there are always tears. Flight attendants pass me tissues with the comment “leaving someone you love behind, are you?” I nod and thank them for the tissue. 

One of my other interstate friends, we’ve been through a lot together too. She’s always been there for me and we always have a laugh. She’s known me since high school and basically seen me grow into a young adult and face the challenges of life. Every step of the way she’s been there.

And lastly there’s a very special type of friend. The international friend. Yep, she’s in the USA. We talk when I wake up and right before bed. Timezones make me miss her during the day, but she does need sleep. We can’t easily visit each other, so we send parcels and skype when we can. We laugh at our accent differences, and any slang terms that get lost in translation between our two countries. Australian slang doesn’t always get understood by Americans! We learnt that the hard way. A few times. 

Thanks for the inspiration Sammie! I am lucky enough to have some of the very best friends in the world. Some are near and some are far, but they’re all special and bring so much to my life. 

Dry July: Week 1

The first week of Dry July is done! A week over, 23 days to go!

Not only am I alcohol free this July, I’m spending Dry July caffeine free too. For over a week, I haven’t had an alcoholic drink or a coffee!! Yes, you read that right, no coffee in a week! No wine either.

In the first 4 days of July, I had 3 social events. So it was quite the welcoming to Dry July! I went at it at full speed. And after week 1, I’m going strong!

I think my passion for doing this in Lucy’s honour keeps me going. I’m doing this for Lucy and her memory keeps me focused on getting through.

Lucy, my dear, week 1 is done! I’m doing this for you, my girl. xx

If you’d like to donate, you can see my fundraising page by clicking here