Friends are to be treasured. They have chosen to be with us. They know our secrets, our stories, our dreams and disappointments. They have this personal knowledge of us, and they do little with it except to simply hold it, to help us hold it. We hold each others stories, our histories.

In sharing ourselves with another we are not spread thin, we become deeper, more complex. Other eyes and other minds help create us in their own thoughts and in ours – an act of co-creation. We are reflected in their eyes, our existence is affirmed.

They know enough to anticipate when we might need support, or to be there when we call. They hold us when we cry, they challenge us to be brave. We laugh, we dance, we cry, we talk. We celebrate each other.

Through our friends we exist in time and space that is more than our own singular experience. We are richer because of them, and when we are no longer here, we live on within them.

© Claire Griffin 2016