Today is International Day of Friendship – celebrate yours!

Did you know that today is International Day of Friendship? Well it is! I wouldn’t have known myself if it wasn’t for the fact that I am on the Hallmark Blogger Panel and they told me.

“Friends are the family we choose for ourselves”

Life without friends would be poor in my book, I’m lucky to have had some great friends over the years. Some have been there for a short time, some a fun time and some for a long time but each and every one of them has played a role in shaping the person who I am today so I am grateful for all of my friends past and present.

So what’s in a friend? Someone you can be yourself with? Someone you can have a laugh with? Someone you can cry with? Someone to support you through the hard times and celebrate with you during the good! A friend is all of these and so much more.

This is my ‘longest serving friend’ MumtoC. We met waaaaaay back in 1995 when I started working at a firm of Solicitors in Skegness where she already worked. One of the funniest memories of getting to know MumtoC was when she told me that before knowing me, she had seen me out on the clubscene in Skegness and thought I was ‘dead hard’ because I was always on the dance floor and had a ‘look about me’. I laughed so much when she told me, I’m not ‘dead hard’ at all but by no means am I a soft touch.

During our 7 years working together our friendship grew, it was such a great bunch of girls to work with there and I missed them all terribly when I moved away from Skegness following the breakdown of my relationship. Not only was I leaving a longterm relationship, a job I loved and a town I had called ‘home’ but I was leaving so many friends behind and I wondered whether our friendships would last. Sadly, many of those friendships fell by the wayside, some I am still friends with on Facebook but MumtoC has been my constant. She is always at the end of the phone, texts and emails and we see each other regularly.

When I found out I was pregnant with Little Bean in 2007 I was overjoyed to find out that not only was MumtoC pregnant too, we were due on the same day 25th May 2008!!! What are the chances of that? Sharing our pregnancies was a very special time and it was so strange that we both went past our due dates with MasterC being born first on 5th June 2008 and Little Bean following 23 hours later on 6th June 2008.

From my friendship with MumtoC we now have great friendships between Little Bean and MasterC as well as Hubby and DadtoC. Our time with them is easy, nothing is forced. MumtoC has been my shoulder to cry on through hard times, she has been someone I have almost peed my pants with in laughter, we have been drunk together and we have been pregnant together. MumtoC is the person I turn to for advice because she knows me inside out, she is sensible, honest and I trust her opinion implicitly.

So today on International Friendship Day I raise a glass to my most special friend, MumtoC – and long may our friendship last!! xx

Luckily for me, I have my blog to be able to tell my friends how much they mean to me, but if you don’t you can always head down to Hallmark, the card and gift specialist with a dedicated range of friendship-inspired products which have been tailored to reflect modern friendships and help you to keep in touch.

DISCLAIMER: I received a sample of cards available for the purpose of this post. I have not received any payment. All words and images are my own and you may not copy any part of it without my permission. I have not been instructed what to write – I just love MumtoC!