It's funny, but even though our new house still needs work on just about every room, I've been working 70-hour weeks since Christmas on a bid for a large contract (which went in on Wednesday) and we're saddled with the biggest mortgage we've ever had, recently I've been thinking that I have never been more content.
The feeling started to gel for me last Saturday night when we took Natalie and Blythe out to celebrate Nat's 18th. I get such a buzz from being around my girls. I guess you have to be a Dad to understand it - and a Dad of daughters too. It's wonderful to see the people they are becoming; to hear them crack jokes (and realise that the famous Beresford sense of humour that I inherited from my Dad is alive and well and has made it safely to the next generation); to talk about their plans and dreams. This was especially poignant now that Nat is "officially" an adult. Naturally she doesn't feel like one. Hell, I'm 50 and I don't!
That feeling grew stronger on Tuesday night. It was the first book club meeting of the year and I was there on my own. Nikki had been invited for a girlie night out with the neighbours. I was enjoying the company of the ladies in the club (as it turned out, I was the only male member there that night). They really are a cracking bunch - excellent company - and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Nikki had a great time with our neighbours too.
Then on Wednesday we received confirmation of our booking at the Great Orme Lighthouse. We spent a fabulous couple of days there in October with my mates and we've arranged a repeat visit later this year. There was a time when I didn't see these guys or their WAGs from one year to the next and now we're enjoying a wonderful rekindling of the friendship we've shared for 30+ years. Like someone has stoked the ashes of a dormant fire and it's burst back into flame as if to prove that it was always there and never went out. And that's the point of this post really - friendship. We're surrounded by it at the moment: old friends, new friends (both in Chorlton Chapters and Chorlton Players), new neighbours, and great relationships with working colleagues too, some of which also go back almost 30 years.
One of the fundamental Principles of Spiritualism is that one is "compensated" for all the good one does and one has in turn to compensate for any bad. There is so much love around us at the moment, I can't help feeling I must be doing something right! That time, now thankfully long past, when I had to curtail my sociable nature...it seems like that was someone else's life I was living and now I've got mine back. Cheers!
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3 comments:
Aww sounds like you really are in a good place. Old friends are wonderful. I still keep in touch with some from school and though we don't get together often, we all have that comfortable ease of knowing someone for 30 odd years, and in some cases much longer as i've known a few since childhood. Even "new" friends are now becoming old friends since i've known most of them (you included) for about 10-15 years. :)
God, is it really ten years? I guess so, almost. I read somewhere ages ago that once people get past a certain age they do tend to stick with friends they've known for a while rather than make new ones. Is that because you don't want to make the effort with new people any more, or just because you get less mobile as you age, I wonder? Our recent experiences with new friends have been totally energising, so I wouldn't want to get stuck in me ways ;o)
I think maybe some people as they get older don't widen their horizons or join up new things or go new places. The Internet has widened my circle of friends enormously, much to my pleasure. Yep, nearly 10 years for most of my online friends. I started reading ratucs and joined a corrie email list in 95 and irc in 97. I think generally you meet people through school and later work, church, and any hobbies/clubs or sports teams.
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