Every day I receive an inspirational short blog from the Daily OM site, as I looked back on some old ones I was drawn to the one around Evaluating our Relationships.

Recently I have lost two good friends, friends who were guiding lights and confidantes, friends whose physical presence I shall certainly miss.

Their loss got me thinking about the great friendships I have across my life. Over the years I have moved house 22 times and along the way gathered many wonderful people as friends along the way. I am thrilled that a lot of them have stayed, some are still close friends while others I may not see or catch up with often but still the friendship remains.

I once said to someone I have many beautiful friends and they thought I was shallow by describing my friends as beautiful, unfortunately it was they that identified as shallow as they took beautiful to mean ‘looks’; I, however meant that each of my friends have a beautiful soul, each one of them shining a light on my life each and every day.

I am so fortunate to still be friends with many of my school friends, one who indeed was my best friend all through school (today she remains one I will turn to should I ever need a listening ear). With social media making staying in touch easy I still find much more joy in spending quality time with those closest to me, social media is great but social interaction is greater.

Each of my friends holds a special part of my heart in the palm of their hand. It would be hard to choose one now as ‘best friends’ as was the norm in school, I prefer to think it as having a best friend for every occasion for instance my friend who likes the cinema certainly wouldn’t be the one for trawling the shops and vice versa.

I am lucky to have those in my life who have held me when I’ve fallen and celebrated my successes when joyous times are mine.

I hope I’m half as good a friend to others as my friends are to me, I certainly am blessed and I give gratitude for each of them (and I include my family in this list as they are indeed friends as well) every single day.

Thank you to all my friends who make my world a shiner place wherever you have fitted in on my journey. You are all shining stars!

I am so grateful Shelia and Cheryl were on my friends list, they certainly helped me shine a light on my path if ever it was rocky, may they both RIP as I carry their light onwards in my heart and in my memories.

So, today give thanks for the friendships you have and remember to have a friend you need to be a friend. Extend the hand of friendship to others and I can assure you, you will never be alone.