Good day to you my heart of gold heroes, 

For this months post I really wanted to delve into the complex world of the strange, intimate and sometimes awkward human interaction fondly known as friendship. Moving to the other side of the world from those closest to me was one of the hardest decisions not only due to being away from my family but also being separated from my second “family” – my friends. 

(All images courtesy of google images)

Looking back at my life in my 31 years on this earth, it is staggering the amount of friendships I have maintained and lost over the years. When I was at school, I had a large groups of girl friends and we did everything together, I still remember fondly our prom night when we all went round to one of the girls houses and posed for photographs leaning against our rented limousine. We felt so special and grown up on that day. Although I am still close with that group of girls to this day through social media and if we bump into each other on the odd occasion, there is only one who is still my best friend to this day, 20 years on.

One of my other closest friends I actually met through a mutual male friend who both of us actually hardly talk to any longer but we’ve maintained a close connection still. We have countless stories of adventures across Europe and hilarious stories which only we share. 

Another I met through a running club I joined whilst living in South Africa when I was training for a marathon. It’s incredible to say we ran the race together and now that same friend has since got married and just had a baby with her loving partner. 

And last but not least, one of my other oldest friends I met at work and through sitting next to each other every day for three years (can you believe there wasn’t one argument) we’ve since been to Glastonbury, countless music festivals and laughed and cried more than some do in a lifetime together. 

It really warms my heart reminiscing about that handful of incredible, inspiring women in my life knowing that we still regularly keep in touch via the wonders of FaceTime, what’s app  and social media. Every time I see a message pop up from them, I get a small smile on my face knowing they are thinking of me as I am them everyday. 

And then having moved here, I already had some fully formed friendships with people I had met in London who are originally from Oz or friends from back home who have since emigrated so I felt like I wasn’t completely alone from the outset. 

One valuable lesson I have learnt as I’ve got older though is even if you have an amazingly supportive family, significant partner or a social calendar like the queen bee, I need to have friends in my life. From something as trivial as helping you decide what nail colour to pick at the weekend to whether you should apply for that dream job, to crying over an argument or just laughing about inside jokes until your stomach hurts, that is something that makes me whole.

If you are anything like me, you would like to have it all – the stellar career, the show worthy home, to be surrounded by people who love and respect you, to be a great parent, to be a good friend and be an upstanding member of society. Having all of this though, does not equate to having a lot of free time so that is why we are so much more selective with who we spend this time with. Friendships should be two sided, and the minute one side is slipping, it can be really hard to get back to where you once were. The hard fact of it is though, it’s all part of the circle of our adult life and I actually applaud it. 

With every fibre of my being, I love, respect and admire all of the amazing people in my life and even if you have only one truly incredible person who you know has your back, then the sun will always shine on you every day for the rest of your life. Human interaction is what keeps us humble and I cannot get enough of it ❤️


Until next time, take care

keya x