My dear friend Sheila posted this pic on my Facebook page yesterday. In a lot of ways, I don’t really need to say any more than the image itself says. But you know me.. I can’t resist a blank page….
Friendship is such an important thing, don’t you think? Half the time we are so used to having people around us in general that we scarcely pay any attention… If we stop a moment we get that warm glow when we think of the friends we love and care about… and who love and care about us.
They are rare and precious these people…those Friends with a capital ‘F’ that are with us through thick and thin, regardless of what might hit the proverbial fan of life. They are closer to our hearts than family sometimes, being the true family of the soul… not joined by blood, perhaps, but by the stuff of life itself.
Kindred spirits… complete opposites… unlikely alliances… it doesn’t seem to matter. There is that spark of recognition somehow, somewhere along the way and you have a hand in yours, a shoulder at the ready or a shared moment of laughter you can always count on, and which you always hold ready too.
Distance doesn’t seem to matter much either when lives collide and spark off each other in this way. I have friends I have never met.. may never meet… or have known for years and met once or twice… and yet who know me better than I know myself sometimes. It is, after all, the level of communication that matters, not the means, and there are those you instinctively know you can open your heart to and invite them in.
And when you do you are opening yourself to their laughter and joys, their sadness and their tears equally. Because Love is like that… and friendship is love by another name. Like the cartoon, what you give, sending it out into the world, setting it free with no expectations or demands… just letting it fly like a bird in the dawn…. comes back to you tenfold.
To know that no matter where you are, no matter what life brings there is someone… somewhere… who gives a damn, that is a beautiful thing.
Even if the odd and much loved one does send live spiders by post…
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Lovely, moving and true, Sue. ‘Friendship is love by another name’: brilliantly expressed, and something I think many people skate over at their peril, as in, ‘Oh, he/she’s ONLY a friend!’ xxx
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Exactly…. xxxxx
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Every friendship starts with a smile 🙂
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Even if only a virtual one 🙂
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With such a propitious beginning it is afoot. 🙂
And while it may be virtual, it isn’t any less real. I love the WordPress community. Wonderful people, wonderful writing. Very glad to be here.
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Me too.. I have met some fabulous people here.. and some of them have become friends in a hug-able reality too 🙂
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A Friend is indeed a rare and beautiful gem….to be treasured.
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Oh yes…. a very precious thing x
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How delightful and LOVEly, Sue. Thank you for this particular piece this morning–you’ve lightened my step and brought the glow of appreciation and connection to the cheeks of my heart :). Here’s to friendship, indeed very often “the true family of the soul.” xo
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Indeed, Sirena 🙂 xxx
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Good point – you can’t choose your bloodline family, but you can choose your friends outside of that family – which is a very different thing.
And you are absolutely right with “To know that no matter where you are, no matter what life brings there is someone… somewhere… who gives a damn, that is a beautiful thing.” – very well put! A
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Thank you Adrian!
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