I didn’t want to do a generic Valentine’s Day post for you. Instead, I wanted to celebrate my strong and supportive female friendships. I feel very fortunate to have a wonderful group of creative, funny, caring women in my life that I know I can count on hands down to always be there for me in times of need.
At the end of last year, my mother passed away from a very aggressive form of brain cancer. Although my relationship with her wasn’t all warm and fuzzy that doesn’t mean to say I didn’t experience grief. I had barely uttered a word to my mum in well over a decade but of course still felt a sense of loss with her passing. Many years of letdowns, deceitfulness and disregard for my feelings left me with no other option but to break the mother/daughter bond and stop all communications. It was the only way I could deal with the constant disappointments for my own sanity. With the lack of a daughter/mother relationship, I guess I found support from my female friends. I honestly don’t know what I would do without them. Over the years I have laughed till I have almost wet my pants and sobbed until I had no more tears to cry. Of course, this has worked both ways. My shoulder has been cried on many a time.
Needless to say, on hearing of mum’s passing my true friends rallied. I had numerous phone calls, text messages and invitations which made me feel wanted and loved. Bottom line, when something life-changing happens you just need your friends. Thank you to Chloe and Sarah who shared fish and chips with me and a bottle of my favourite Sharpham wine. Thank you to Harry who took me on an Exeter Treasure Trail that we did about half of and sacked it off for a glass of wine and a bag of crisps! Thank you to Serena for sharing dinner with me that first evening. Thank you Viki for numerous tea and cake dates and thank you Johanna for always being there.
Some of these friendships have been nurtured over many, many years. A few still from childhood. Some friendships have been made through work, through dancing, through friends of friends and even through social media. Each and everyone completely unique and special. To my Galentines I truly love you.
To be honest, there are many more amazing females in my life that I haven’t mentioned but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate their love and support. They are my motivation and my driving force and I sincerely hope I have told you all enough over the years how much you all mean to me.So, instead of another cringe-inducing valentines blog post, I thought I would change things up a bit. Happy Galentines Day to my favourites.