Friendship

Friendship in all shapes and sizes - here my husband and his best mate with their respective children on their shoulders

My Father buried one of his oldest and dearest friends this week. This death has made me think alot about our lives, the cycle of life and everything in between. The subject of friendship has been on my mind a lot of late and with the passing of a dear family friend this post is timely.

Here is my dearest friends daughter with my eldest daughter

My husbands best mates daughter with our twin girls

A gaggle of girls that have formed friendships through dance - having fun on a flying fox

Enjoying the Melbourne Cup with some twin friends - All three of us have twins!

We should not underestimate the power of friendship. I believe that some friends come in and out of our lives at different times and for different reasons. Some friendships are not meant to be with us forever and some we have to learn to let go of. There are many that will endure and there are many that we will learn from. I believe that your life will be richer for having (& keeping) friends in them.

It's a twin thing - lucky girls to have each other!
I have often viewed friendships as having an expiry date and/or have been hesitant to enter into them. Upon alot of reflection, in part, that has been due to my constant moving throughout my life, but a bigger part was due to a long term relationship I was in where friendships were not encouraged. I believe subconsciously I let most friendships go or did not invest too much as I was not around long enough to sustain them or did not have the right people in my life who wanted me to have friendships.

Well what is the saying older and wiser! I have lived a little and gone through a bit and am more consciously aware of the power of wonderful friendships. I am also more aware that with any relationship, be it work, friends, husband, children, parents, sisters etc that you will only get out what you are willing to invest. They all require different levels of 'investment' but you have to make time for these relationships.

One of my dear friends that I spend a lot of time with - here is her son with my girls

There is nothing like sharing a coffee and a chat whilst your kids are playing. Some one close by who you can call on to cry, laugh and share your life experiences with!

My bestie, Lyndall - she has supported me and helped through many tough life experiences!

I believe that life is a lesson and this is (another) lesson that I need to teach my girls. Value your friends, invest in your friends and don't let the good ones go!

My wonderful Father

Good bye for now Uncle Bill, we will see you again soon (but not too soon I hope) xx