Thank you for being a friend....

Encarta English Dictionary defines a friend as:  friend (noun) 1. Somebody emotionally close; somebody who trusts and is fond of another.  2.  Acquaintance; somebody who thinks well of or is on good terms with somebody else.  3.  Ally; an ally, or somebody who is not an enemy.

I have been on an emotional roller coaster for the past two days.  I recognize I am a super sensitive person inside with a hard outside veneer.    I can appear to be the strongest dividual in a crisis but close the door and my veneer very easily cracks and I become a babbling fool.  This I realize must be hard on my friends.  ‘Do I call her?’  ‘Is she ok?’

I’ve moved around a lot in my life from one States to another, from one country to another.  And the one thing that has always seen me through in my many shift in local have been my friends.  I have some wonderful friends.  Where family may have let me down, friends have always been there to help repair my veneer and make me feel loved.  During this bush fire crisis it truly hit home to me the depth of my friendships and how the miles between us very easily melt away with only a few heartfelt words.

I received sooo many emails and Facebook messages from friends of mine that I haven’t seen face to face in decades saying they heard on the news about the Perth bush fires and was I and my family well.  I even heard by email from a collage friend living now in Alabama who I haven’t seen since 1986 saying she wished she could be here with me in support.  It warms my heart and brings tears to my eyes to know I have cultivated friendships that strong and lasting.

I hope I live up to the old adage – ‘to have a friend you have to be a friend.’

To all my friends far and wide who let me know I was in their thoughts, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your supportive words and wishes.  It means the world to me.