More about friendship

As I said in my last blog, I had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday we went to Salisbury to stay with our mates Mich and Tim for a couple of days. They got married late last year in Scotland with just two other people there, and they threw the big ‘We’re married!’ bash Sunday night.

We arrived about Saturday tea time and got down to the business of getting tipsy (oh OK, drunk) on vodka. 3 of our other friends had come down from Manchester, so there were 7 of us in all. We had a wonderful giggly evening bringing up memories and sinking many drinks. I headed to bed at 2-ish and J and Tim were the last to go off to bed at 3am. I went to sleep with a massive smile on my face after having such a fun evening.

I was amazed to wake up on Saturday and be as fresh as a daisy. I had no hangover at all, which is a rarity for me, but I embraced it! A couple of people were slightly hanging, J included. I was as chirpy as usual, I can't help it when I'm around good people. We went off into Salisbury proper yesterday for lunch and to explore a bit, whilst leaving Mich and Tim to have some quality time with their families. We’d never been to Salisbury before. Long story short - it's epic. If you’re into history and architecture, you’ll be in heaven. Every 5 buildings or so there’s something that would’ve been around in Shakespeare’s time, or even earlier. One building I saw was 13th century, although there are probably more like it we didn’t get to see. We made a beeline for the cathedral after lunch in Wetherspoons, mainly because it’s so tall you’d have to be blind to miss it! It’s immense in size and so beautiful. We didn’t go inside because we were short of time, but we’re going back in 3 weeks so we’ll do a bit more sightseeing then. You could sprain your wrist taking so many photos. There's inspiration everywhere, it's almost overwhelming. It's my dream city so far.

The party on Sunday was really mellow compared to our usual crazy standards ;) It was lovely. We drank a load more and had a sedate little couples dance to Nothing Else Matters, which was Mich and Tim’s first dance song. Pre my illness I'd have been throwing some shapes on the dance floor all night, but I enjoyed watching the others having a dance, and I always dance about in my chair. There was great food, an impromptu entertainer who tried his best to entertain despite some issues with the sound (ahem) and lots of laughing about. You know when you’re in good company because you don’t have to strain for conversation. We make each other laugh just by looking at each other or enjoy the (rare) silences when they come. But usually we just laugh and take the mickey out of each other, share a memory from way-back-when or take silly photos to remind us what happened when we're too drunk to remember. Sometimes friendships are hard work, but not the good ones. They are totally effortless. You just slot together like a jigsaw that's been lovingly pieced together many times. You can be yourself unashamedly, and it's OK. Old friendships are like putting on a cosy old jumper you've had at the back of the wardrobe. So comfy, so familiar, and you wonder why it's been put to the back when you love it like no other. When you put it on, you realise what you've been missing all this time and then you don't want to take it off.

In the favours boxes on the tables at the party there were skull and crossbones temporary tattoos amongst other things, so us three girls put them on our boobs. We’re talking about having a similar design tattooed on us for real. We’ve all got tattoos anyway and it’ll be a nice bonding thing, a friendship tattoo. Us 3 girls plus the bride - who couldn’t really be seen with a fake tattoo on her boob in the photos last night so she didn't apply one - all met though a penpal agency for people into rock and metal music about 13 years ago, if memory serves me right. We’ve been through some crap together, lost our share of friends along the way  and have been through personal trials and tribulations along the way. We had a wonderful holiday to Ibiza about 10 years ago, the four of us, and I like to think we'll be friends to the end.

We live all over the country, our boyfriends have come and gone over the years, and two of us are now married. We’re all in a good place, by and large. Our 4 fellas are all bloody diamonds, and as soon as we all get together it just WORKS. It's wonderful to see your friends with brilliant guys who love them to bits. All you could wish for for your friends is happiness and being around them and seeing them so happy is a treat, it really is. When we get together no one really talks about much about work, we just get our party heads on because we see each other so rarely. It’s so good every time we part I think ‘We MUST do this more often!’ and then time goes by, the memories fade, I get caught up in the day to day struggles and too long goes by.

Not this time, though! We have plans to see Mich and Tim in 3 weeks and our Northern buddies in a couple of months.

You can’t put a price on good friendship. I would go to the ends of the earth to see those fuckers.

Who are your oldest friends? Are they far away from you or on your doorstep?

2 comments

  1. I got to catch up with my m8 Kay and her family at her wedding on friday, we've know eachother since we were 5 as her mom used to babysit us while my mom was at work and in the school hols etc. We lost contact and got back into contact over the years but managed to find eachother again once we were on facebook, so now we keep in touch alot more. We've always sort of been like the sisters we've never had if that makes sense. Even when we haven't spoke for years we can always seem to start where we left off so to speak and always have a laugh lol I think I can safely say we'll be friends forever was just abit sad I never got asked to be a bridesmaid as we always said when we were little that we'd be eachothers bridesmaids. I'll probably still ask her if I ever get married, would probably have to have 4 tho to balance it out, Becks and Dr's sis are very girly looking and Kay is a rocker tattoo chick so would probs have to have Dr's cousin Claire too as she's a rocker tattoo chick too lol xXx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Friendships where you can just pick up where you left off are the best.

      It sounds like you've been doing a lot of thinking about your wedding :) That means you'll find the organising easier when the time comes :D x x x

      Delete