Circle of Trust

Friendship is an interesting thing.

When I was at school I had a huge circle of good friends. These were the people that I thought I would always be friends with no matter what. So almost 18 years after I left high school I find it a little ironic that from this group of friends I am still friends with just two people. I drifted away from many of these people when I was at University and those friendships dissolved. A few years ago I caught up with a school friend and I found it ironic that she is still friends with all the people I no longer see, and she is not friends with the two people that I still consider as close friends.

What I realise is that as you move through life you and others change; like the ebb and flow of the tides. There are people that are in your life for a long time and those that touch your life briefly. I believe that people come into your life to help you and teach you things as you come into theirs to do the same. I am not perfect. I have lost friends over the years through my own stupidity and/or thoughtlessness. I have also let friendships go for my own self-preservation.

As the eve of my 36^th birthday approaches I look around and realise that I have the most amazing group of friends. Many are friends that I have had in my life for well over 15-20 years and are my ‘circle of trust’. They are the people that I go to when I need their wisdom and advice. Ultimately they are the people that I trust with my heart and my soul. However, I am a strong believer that it is not always the length of time that you have known someone, but the depth of feeling that you have for them that makes you love and trust them.  I have some very close friends that I have known for a short time that I trust implicitly.

I trust easily and yes I have been burnt in the past few years. I am re-learning to trust my own instinct when meeting new people. As I get older I realise that sometimes you need to guard yourself a little and not reveal everything all at once. One of the best things about friendship is getting to know the person bit-by-bit; a little like opening a present. Every layer is a surprise.

So I will treasure the friendships that I have and nurture them every single day.

Week 28 – w/c Saturday 9th July, 2011

Saturday (09/07/11) ~ I spent some time on the couch watching some recorded stuff off Sky and Mark and I managed to watch 6 episodes of The Big Bang Theory before he disappeared into the garage to work on his boat. Mark also purchased wood for his birthday photo booth.

Sunday (10/07/11) ~ Mark got up and got me a couple of brioches from Fuze and also a flat white. Then I just read and slept as the weather was horrible.

Monday (11/07/11) ~ Phoebe and her sister Jac came over for kitten cuddles at Raewyn’s. No photo.

Tuesday (12/07/11) ~ Starting a new book. Love it!! ‘Faking It’ by Jennifer Crusie.

Wednesday (13/07/11) ~ Mark went to beer night with the “boys” to do some taste testing of Moa Beers. I spent some time with Kathryn talking and watching The Biggest Loser. Penny spent the evening racing around and then eventually dropped from exhaustion.

Thursday (14/07/11) ~ Picked up a huge stack of books and DVD’s from the local library. I get so excited about new books to read…is that wrong? One of them is about two best friends that open a cupcake shop together….sound familiar? It could be the girls from Delish Cupcakes.

Friday (15/07/11) ~ Our dryer is stuffed….so I got up in the pouring rain and went to our local Laundromat at around 6.30am to get our washing dry. I did not think anyone would be around at that time so I wore my PJ’s and a dressing gown. Suffice to say I saw about 4-5 people.

Week 27 – w/c Saturday 2nd July, 2011

Saturday (02/07/11) ~ I spent the morning in bed and then Raewyn and I had a coffee catch-up and then tried to sort out things with Vodafone. After coffee I got back into bed with TV, books and cats.

Sunday (03/07/11) ~ Day in bed reading and watching Private Practice.

Monday (04/07/11) ~ Bombarded with 4^th of July stuff via Google Reader. No photo.

Tuesday (05/07/11) ~ I had lunch with Kathryn at Delish. She then sent me a photo of the layer cake that she had made. Lemon and Raspberry. YUM! Did a bit sort through of our clothing and now I have bags to chuck in the ragbag collection and other things to donate to charity. Had my own autocorrect failure on Twitter with my iPhone substituting ‘kanthan’ for ‘Langham’.

Wednesday (06/07/11) ~ On Tuesday I came across an amazingly organised bathroom cupboard; so I took a ‘before’ photo of our cupboard and bathroom draw. Had lunch with Robyn…my oldest friend from university who I had not seen for about 11 years; it was fabulous! We cannot wait to catch up again.

Thursday (07/07/11) ~ No idea…..work and then probably relaxing and reading at night. No photo.

Friday (08/07/11) ~ Phoebe came around to have kitten cuddles at Raewyn’s and then I drove over to Glenfield to pick Mark up from sport. No photo.

17 years, 7 months and approximately 12 days I left High School…

….or so I thought.

Lately I have noticed that Twitter has started to become a little like some of the bad parts of High School.

Bullying occurs more frequently on Twitter and one campaign led people to delete their accounts to try and remove themselves from the situation. Then the bully would focus in on another tweep and try and engage all their followers into the fray. Just let it go!

Creation fake accounts to be devious and try and trick people into believing falsehoods or half-truths.  

Then there are the debates that start with a bit of fire and end in personal slinging matches.

Predatory men (and possibly some women) sending people completely inappropriate messages while maintaining a seemingly ‘devout’ public persona.

I am over the self-professed social media guru’s. Seriously, there are so many people on Twitter that are actually experts in their field i.e. IT programmers, website developers, photographers, chefs, marketing, advertising, PR, nurses, doctors, diving instructors, massage therapists, mum’s and dad’s etc. On a daily basis they continue to wow their customers and peers without having to have ‘guru’ in their bios.

Seriously, at 35 years old I thought that I had left high school behind, but it would appear not.

Disclaimer: for me the good parts of twitter still FAR outweigh the bad parts. I love the people that I have met and the things that I have learnt. I am still glad that I joined twitter, as my life has been enriched by it.

Week 26 – w/c Saturday 25th June, 2011

I am terrible at remembering to take a photo every day!

Saturday (25/06/11) ~ Cleaned up Raewyn’s house and changed all the litter trays in preparation for her arrival. Went to the gym. No photo.

Sunday (26/06/11) ~ Had Twitter friends come and look at kittens at Raewyn’s. They are definitely adopting. Exciting! No photo.

Monday (27/06/11) ~ Wednesday (29/06/11) ~ Work. No photo.

  

Thursday (30/06/11) ~ Met Bronnie and dropped some stuff off to her. Had handmade chocolates and a macaron. Stella (sister-in-law) sent me a photo of my niece and nephew for my birthday (which is actually in July); they are so cute….my heart melted.

Friday (01/07/11) ~ Can’t believe it is July. No photo.

Week 25 – w/c Saturday 18th June, 2011

Saturday (18/06/11) ~ Looking after Raewyn’s cats while she lies on the beach in Fiji on a well-deserved holiday. Baked brownies. Raced to Newmarket to buy the cutest Pettiskirt for Niamh and then had a pedicure with my new OPI nail varnish. Then back home to meet Phoebe to take her to Raewyn’s for kitty cuddles. Went out for late dinner for Colleen’s birthday and Derby and Bravo is my new favourite drink. Tried my first ever Macaron.

Sunday (19/06/11) ~ I spent the day in bed with the cats and books.

Monday (20/06/11) ~ A very cute cat envelope.

Tuesday (21/06/11) ~ Went to dinner and the movies (Green Lantern) with the girls at Wairau Park. No photo.

Wednesday (22/06/11) ~ First book club meeting of the Vamp Tramps and Mark went to beer night. Got 3 more Gena Showalter books to read. No photo.

Thursday (23/06/11) ~ Mark had the dentist so I read my book in the car. No photo.

Friday (24/06/11) ~ Work. No photo.

Week 24 – w/c Saturday 11th June, 2011

Saturday (11/06/11) ~ Gym with Arlene. Cool pizza lunch and True Blood with my sister. Colleen and Marcel popped in. They loved the cats. No photo.

Sunday (12/06/11) ~ Day in bed reading and watching TV. No photo.

Monday (13/06/11) ~ Work. No photo.

Tuesday (14/06/11) ~ Daisy the tubby bubby. Picture for Colleen to send to Marcel.

Wednesday (15/06/11) ~ Leg wax. No photo.

Thursday (16/06/11) ~ Work. No photo.

Friday (17/06/11) ~ I finally found the perfect pair of black work pants from TS14+. Late night text from Phoebe Ruby about cats.