Friends

Your friends are the family you choose.

Google suggests this is a quote from a book called "The Other Side Of Life" by Jess C Scott, but that was written in 2011 and I've been saying it for far longer than that.

Some you choose, some choose you - one way or another your friends support and reflect you, and go a long way to make you who you are.

I've known most of my close friends since I was 13, and there are others from before then that I have shamefully lost regular contact with but still count as friends.

You grow up with someone, you know them better than you know yourself.

So that's over a quarter of a century of friendship, which is a bit scary when you think about it.

Lots of stories, and bountiful blurry memories, some to cherish and some that you just wish everyone would forget.

But we're not youngsters any more, and personally my memory isn't great for some reason.

So thanks to photos, and tools like this blog to keep the memory alive, for sharing with (or hiding from) future generations.

Having largely the same group of friends since school is great in some ways - there's never anything to hide, and you can get away with some humour that would appall others (and does).

But it has been said in the past that we are so close as to block any new friends joining in.
Think that was supposed to be a bad thing, but I'm not always so sure.

Will miss you all from the other side of the world, but I've done it before and we're still friends.
So please come and visit often, remind ourselves why.