Lonely but thankful

A few weeks ago, I watched four girls get on the train together and start chatting amongst themselves. Their great energy caught my attention and I found it hard to look away.

I felt jealous. Not because of their fabulous earings – although there was that – but because they had that easy joy of closeness that you only have with your very best friends. They were giddy and silly and clearly delighting in one another’s company.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how spectacularly happy they were.

Right now, I’m pining so much for my precious friends that it almost feels physically painful. The friends I rarely see these days and who I almost never see all at the same time. It makes me feel a bit empty. A bit lonely.

But I can’t wait for the next two weeks to pass so I can have at least three friends in the same room at the same time. I know exactly how it will go. We’ll slip straight into our rhythm. Inside jokes, bullying Donna, laughing till our cheeks throb.

I feel so desperate for the last weekend of July to come that I can barely think of anything else.

I was wondering what other people watching the girls on the train might might have thought about them. Would they have simply been considered a noisy bunch?  I wonder if you have to know how it feels to have such wonderful friendships in order to recognise when other people have the same bond.

I have no idea why I’ve been lucky enough to have been blessed with so many beautiful friends. Friends with big hearts and huge spirits. Not just the girls visiting in a few weeks but all my friends.

My life is magic. And it’s because of the people it’s filled with.