Friday, November 19, 2010

12 years and counting....

I arrived home from a long day at work and grabbed the mail from the letterbox and unlocked the front door to get in out of the rain. When I saw the square white envelope with the English stamp I threw the boring bills on the table with the car keys and sat down for 5 minutes with a smile on my face! 

It was from a good friend in England. Four of us would get together at least once a week to chat and have coffee while our kids ran around our feet playing. We met 12 years ago at ante-natal classes while we were heavily pregnant with our first babies. There is a lot to be said for friendships that share the experience of those first few months of being a mum. Finding friends that share and empathise as you struggle with young babies and learn as you go how to be a mother. It's hard to be fake, to keep a mask of perfection as you sit sleep-deprived rocking a teething baby and watching your coffee go cold just out of arms reach. 

I made some wonderful friends in those first few years of motherhood. Friends who passed the tissues and let me cry when things were hard. Friends that got as excited about my babies milestones as I did about theirs. Friends that made the decision to emigrate a hard one. Friends that still take the time five years down the line to write and even to put a little coffee stick in the envelope so I can "join-in" as I catch up on all the news about the kids, their families and all that is changed and all that is still the same. 

 

There is a Turkish quote about coffee and friendship which I think is very true...

“A cup of coffee commits one to forty years of friendship.”


Well Zoe if that is true here is to the next 28!

5 comments - click here to leave your comment:

  1. Oh, this is so beautiful and so true! There's something about sharing a cup of coffee or even hot tea with someone that brings your hearts closer together.

    I like to imagine that I will one day be having a cup of coffee with YOU after this life.

     
  2. Wonderful post Gina :-)I love going back to Paris to meet my friends there for coffee .. :-)

     
  3. Friends like that are worth more than just about anything... And you just reminded me I owe a letter or two to a few of mine!

     
  4. Love that quote Gina! Friendship is such a gift we give ourselves~ to have a friend, you must be a friend! I am sure they treasure you so much!

     
  5. This brought tears to my eyes (granted, I'm incredibly hormonal and teary anyhow, but still...)

    I have several close friends that I'm getting to see again on Saturday. We've known each other since we were twelve, and even with the distance between us, and the length of time in between when we're able to see each other, we're all still very much a part of each other's lives. There's nothing like true, forever friends.