Friends are gifts you give yourself

I believe that saying.I value my friends and i try not to ever take them for granted.
I think i have the loveliest friends in the world and i have kept most of them a long long time.I am reminded of this very much lately.I have been going through a rough time not rough as in feel sorry for me everybody but rough as in personally hard.
Anyway things are looking up or perhaps its me looking up and what has helped me are my friends.Some friends are online and although i have never met them they keep me company and make me cry and laugh.They live all over the world and have expanded my knowledge a whole lot.Others are friends i have had for a while like my dear friend Chris who was my first married next door neighbour when i was 18 and newly married.Boy have we been through things that would make your hair curl (is that why mine is sooo curly)The other day i had lunch with her and she gave me such a gorgeous book called hope and told me it was ok if i wanted to cut it up,I said never ! (never lasted 4 weeks).She also sent me a book i'm reading called the five languages of love it tells how we all show love differently,some of us (me) are present givers and love sayers,Some (him) are service givers and NOT love sayers.
Anyway what a gem is Chris.Then there are what i call surprise friends,friends that you never expected and the next thing you know there they are in you heart! Jo Chris's mum is one of these.I never expected to feel as i do with Jo she just sorta grew in my heart till hey there she was,Jo calls a spade a spade (i can be like that myself) she is more my mothers age which i have come to know means nothing.Friends come in all ages and sizes and sometimes they are not even people but cats and dogs.
Anyway theres Jo a surprise friend and yesterday i opened an unexpected parcel,and aren't they always the best kind.She had heard i was going through a rough time and sent me the sweetest note saying the gift was from her heart and more true the bottom of her sewing box, Buttons galore teeny tiny buttons and picture buttons,ribbons, shapes, a teeny mouse (my favourite thing of all!)So thankyou Jo you made my week.So anyway after this epic post if you are still here listening to me ramble,here's to friends so lift your cup (tea or coke it matters not)
To my friends-the most precious thing I've got!