Friends (and how I truly value them)

Firstly, I should preface this by saying that I am an unbelievably fortunate cove. I have relatively good health, I have a wonderful job, most of my faculties and haven't a real lot to whinge about. Having said that, I am human and some days are all light and sunshine, diamonds and gold and some are just pure unadulterated frog manure!

I won't go into details, but in quite recent times I have had quite a few of the frog manure variety. It seems to me that when you are getting things too good for a while, the good Lord, perhaps, or some miscievous imp or something else such as a rampant rangdephometer malfunction occurs and ensures that you are brought back to rudiments so as to ensure you don't get too full of your own self importance.

This is probably a good thing in the overall scheme of things, but bloody uncomfortable at the time.

Sometimes (such as very recently for me) it becomes quite disproportionate, leaving you feeling somewhat melancholy and despondant - at least it occasionally does with me! Most of the time I am upbeat and full of enthusiasm for life and each and every experience that comes my way .... even the negative things, however no one is immune from the occasional bout of what Sir Winston Churchill used to call "The Black Dog". Many people are fortunate and don't get a good bout of it (and I very rarely succumb), however it is a real thing.

Now we come to the real reason I am writing this post. I would like to publicly (yet anonymously) thank my best friend for lending me a supportive shoulder, listening without criticism and providing suggestions. This support was not insignificant and was hugely appreciated by me.

This person would, I am certain, prefer to remain anonymous, so I will reveal nothing about them at all - not gender, not age, not race, not location. I will only reveal that this person is my best mate.

I won't even reveal whether they are on the internet, much less whether they have the capacity to read this. The mere fact that I am writing this post helps me assuage my mind and demonstrate (at least to myself) that I truly appreciate this wonderful kindness visited upon me. Suffice to say, though, that they are tremendously appreciated even though this person devalues the significance of their input.

All I can say is that the support given was far from insignificant to me.

I wonder how many of us truly recognise the tremendous value of the friendship, companionship and just good old fashioned "mateship" that is bestowed upon us?

For myself, I am sure that I never recognise it enough and I certainly fail to acknowledge it enough - or have so failed in the past. One way or another, I will ensure that my friend is aware that I have written this - not to big note myself for acknowledging them, but because they should have all the bells rung and all the whistles blown and every accolaide accorded to them. I just wish that I could.

On that note, I should thank all my friends over the years for every pleasure, every joy, every tear, every gift that they have visited upon me. Without our friends and without their friendship, we are nothing - bordering on sub-human.

I thank you all, and I especially thank my best friend. Muchos gratias (or whatever the spelling is for that Spanish expression).