to my freinds

I've just come back from a short holiday with a couple of freinds and there was not a day that i did not say thank you for the wonderful company. As i started downloading my photos and taking a longer look at them my mind wandered, thinking about all my freinds and my relationship with them.
Going back to my childhood and tracing back memories where in school I have bonded with freinds by sharing a the front bench, played the swing and see saw with a girl called Godhi, learning how to cycle together with arthi, walking the school ground during lunch, talking about other friends shared lunches and having some fun with the teachers. Fast forward to pre -collage where i discussed dreams, gossiped about classmates and wondered about my future.
It was during design school I became aware of how luckiy I was to be surrounded by a group of amazing group of people who inspired me when required, who encouraged me when i needed it and who could tick me off when i was wrong these are the people whom I called freinds and from then on I have held onto them like life support. Ofcourse there are people I havenot metor spoken for a long long period of time but they remain on my freinds list because i am confident that when i do meet them it will be like old times
Discussing clothes, going shoe shopping, talking about work, movies and books or even just stories of your life, travelling all this and more involves being a freind! its strange who we continue to make freinds through all phases and cross roads in our lives and i strongly believe these are devine interventions leaving it up to us personally to follow thorugh.
Sometimes I feel the vow that is usually taken durng marraiges ... in sickness and in health applies more true to freindship than for marriages, though ofcourse i am not speaking from personal experience!!
In the last month i have lucky enough to make new freinds and touchbase with old ones. I have understood over time that freinds are needed by your side whether you are married, become a mother, have a new job, turned into a grandmother or even when your sick, because they are the ones who make you laugh, distract you, take you shopping, curse your enemies and treat you for lunch when your broke or just hold you when you need it. Such freinds you need on speeed dial no matter what and to sum up what i feel on this topic, am going to quote a quote by Anais Nin that i read somewhere "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
While i go mull over this i raise my glass to all my freinds around the world --- and wide,new and old and take this oppurtunity to say thank you!!