Today a little friend of mine turns 10 and I still remember going to her first month celebrations.  It’s amazing how fast time flies and how quickly the little ones in our lives grow.  Due to her family and friends being everywhere around the world today, we all got together a little earlier to celebrate in style with the birthday girl.

The neon theme party threw me for a slight loop till I remembered my very bright neon yellow sandals my sister bought me for Christmas.  I also forgot I actually have a neon pink top somewhere in my closet.  Oh well, there I was decked out in black with my neon sandals with my munchkins who will miss Saffy when she moves to New York.  They had a whale of a time.  For my nephew in particular, he usually finds himself in the minority with more girls than boys.  This time, he played rough, didn’t have to watch out for anyone because he was one of the boys and they were in the majority.

My niece had fun too and enjoyed hanging out with girls and of course, Renn.  It’s so nice to watch them grow up together.  Maybe they’ll stay friends and maybe they won’t but I do hope they get as lucky as I’ve been with friends.  It wasn’t always this way and in the past, I’ve had a couple of toxic friends myself.  Learnt the hard way and while they aren’t bad people themselves, I now know I can choose not to allow people to treat me badly.  Here’s 3 women, sans Lynn who we miss dearly (thank goodness for Whatsapp and FaceTime) and living it up in Maui.  So it’s actually 4 women who have showed me what real friendships mean.

In some ways we’re so different and yet in others so very similar.  I don’t know if they realise how much they’ve each inspire me to be better and that’s what real friendship means.  Supporting you when you need it most and being genuinely happy at your successes.  They’ve done it for me so often and for each other, showing that it is possible to put people who you aren’t related to before yourself. I’m so thankful for our seemingly inane conversations to quiet times when we lean on each other for strength.  Each time they make the difficult but right choices in life, they give me the courage to make the same hard choices in mine.  Our friendship always makes me think of this Dad’s advice to his children “Never ever let a friend down. I would bury bodies for my friends, if they asked me to . . . which is why I have chosen them carefully.”

So today on your 10th birthday dearest Saffy, I wish you a lifetime of wonderful friendships.  Happy Birthday angel!!