I like honey

For me, friends are to my life what honey is to my morning tea and toast. It can be quite good without it, but with it, it's just that much yummier!

It's a somewhat simplistic analogy I acknowledge, but it works for me. 

When I think of all the people in the world, they essentially fall into three groups: family, people I know, and people I don't know. My friends are in the family group. More than just people I know and like, they are my family of the heart. This group includes some people I'm related to (although not all the people that I'm related to) and some kindred spirits that I'm lucky enough to have encountered on my journey, who have joined my family and have invited me into theirs along the way. In this family are people that I have known all my life, or theirs; people I have known for many, many years and some I have not known for very long at all. There are people I see quite often, some I have not seen for years, some I might never meet again, some I have not yet met, and some I might never meet. These last two groups are a relatively recent addition to my experience. People who blog.

What all these people have in common is that they are generous with their warmth and caring; they share their talents, their hearts and their insights; they inspire and encourage my endeavours; they listen, empathise and support me when I rant and moan; they make me laugh, and sometimes they just sit with me while I cry, and offer quiet hope. I have felt an instant connection to someone I've just met. Rarely, but it happens. Some of these I now count as family. And I have felt a universal connection to others like authors, painters or poets. But who knew that it was possible to feel so connected, so directly connected, to people one has never met? Not me.

I've been thinking about this a lot over the past few weeks.

I began blogging last year, inspired by two very special real-world, long-time friends. Both live very far away from me now, on different continents, in different hemispheres, but both are very close to my heart. One is a great blogger herself, who took the leap before me and encouraged me to jump in too. And the other has always encouraged me to find an outlet for my love of colour, words and images and is a quiet, loving presence here most days although she hardly ever joins the conversations. With their support I set out on this journey to explore my inner and outer world, to create a space for me that reflected me to me - hurting, healing, or happy.

And that's largely what it remains. It's a personal space. I make no apologies for that. I ramble, I navel gaze, I reminisce, I dream, I play, I potter... Sometimes there's focus, sometimes there's not. It's whatever it needs to be on the day. It's my space, for me. And yet, it's become so much more as well. Because it's a personal space, yes. But in the public domain. I'd been visiting other people's blogs for some time before I started blogging but I didn't really think through the fact that others (apart from these two friends) might visit mine. I certainly never imagined that some of those people would become friends. And yet, that is what has happened. Is happening. It's an incredible thing. 

And it's like honey. Some days it adds to an already delicious experience and makes it more so. Some days it helps make it easier to swallow what's bitter. Some days it is the sweet spot. 

This week I received an unexpected and very special award from one of these new friends, Sarah, whose amazing creativity and friendly warmth are a constant joy. The Renee Award was created in honour of Renee, who recognises the value of connections that inspire, support and delight. In honour of friendships, forged or felt through the ether. Sarah expressed similar surprise at the friendships she has found through blogging and then gifted me with a show of just such friendship. Thank you Sarah, the feeling is mutual.

The idea with these awards is also that one pass them on. So I'm passing it on to you, and you, and you, and you, and you... You know who you are. We have connected. You feel comfortable here, you come back to visit, perhaps to chat or just to hang out quietly. And if you have a blogspace of your own, you welcome me when I visit you. My friends, old and new.

You are my honey, lovely ones. Thank you! I like honey.

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one!"

C.S. Lewis

(1898-1963)

Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance.

Rabindranath Tagore

(1861-1941)

[Flickr credits]