What gets you through the ups and downs of life?
Is it faith?
Is it inbred resillience?
Is it time?
Or is it friends?
I sometimes wonder this,
especially when I see others facing trials.
For myself I think there is inbred resilience,
but mostly I believe,
that it was friendship which has always pulled me through.
At the lowest times in my life,
I have had the good fortune,
to have exceptional friends.
When my Dad was dying,
they held me up,
and shared my sadness.
They flocked around me when he died,
and had the patience to tolerate my grief.
Tomorrow I will be married twenty three years,
to my very best friend.
He has to tolerate me regardless.
And he has certainly done that.
He was there to hold and comfort me,
when days were dark.
To share in the laughter,
of great moments of joy,
and to kick my ass when required!
Also within my life I am so very lucky,
to have two distinct groups of friends,
without whom I cannot imagine what life would be like.
There is something very special,
about the friendship of a gang of girls.
Today myself and one of these gangs,
will head away as we do regularly,
for just one night.
We will leave at lunchtime,
travel not too far,
but far enough,
and will enjoy a great laugh.
From the moment we leave,
we begin to change.
We leave behind family, husbands and responsibilities,
and become ourselves.
We load up the car with all we need,
an overnight bag,
a bottle of milk.. for tea,
and a few bottles of wine.. for after tea!
Time will become irrelevant.
We may arrive and feel a bit thirsty,
hence the tea, (wink wink!),
we will eat when we feel hungry later,
usually arriving just before the restaurant stops serving.
Then we will enjoy some time in the bar,
and maybe even provide them with some free entertainment,
especially if they have a mike handy!
We will then take our party back to our room,
(just ourselves which is party enough)
and will fall sleep when we feel like it.
The trip lasts all of twenty four hours,
but every minute counts.
So I may be a bit quiet today,
as I do not think the trip is suitable,
for you to come along with me.
Just know that I will be back.
This is just one of those things I must do,
in order to ensure,
the health of this friendship surviving.
Make no mistake,
as I have assured my husband,
it is not something I will enjoy!
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Enjoy your girl time, Tric. And your milky tea. Gross.
I am home again, and all I can say is “I think we should have stuck to the tea!” It was a great night though, although I wouldn’t say I have come home well rested! 🙂
Great lines I hope you have/had fun!
Thanks we had perhaps a bit too much fun! Ah well it was worth every minute. Nothing like getting away and leaving real life behind for awhile.
and I am sure your man doesn’t enjoy the 24 hours you’re absent with your friends equally as much as you are not enjoying the time spent away from him ! 😆
You are so right. That is exactly what he tells me! Anyway I am back now and still breathing. That is about the best I can say about myself!
you are very lucky )
Thanks. Although now I am home and feeling a small bit fragile, I do not feel quite so “lucky”. 🙂
24 hours away on your own. Well done. Its our 21st anniversary tomorrow but straw and drainage means no quick getaway. We went away for 32 hours a few weeks ago but the kids insisted on coming with us – not that we really minded, I’m starting to feel we havent many years left that theyarent embarrassed to be seen with us 😉 delighted to have found your blog
Thanks. I thought our kids would soon grow out of wanting to holiday with us, but it doesn’t seem to be happening. A few years ago we said mournfully “ah this will be the last year”. It wasn’t and only one was in the US for the summer we’d have had them all this year too.