friends

 Wow 3 posts in 5 days. Can you say 'inconsistent'?

So some emails were flying around my inbox yesterday, and somewhere in there someone, I think, asked how Di and I met. Heaps of people actually ask that, including my own daughter recently. We are from different suburbs, have different circles of friends, and our paths don't actually cross much. When people ask, 'So how do you guys know each other?' I just say 'scrapbooking' but I quite like our little story and after Di shared it to the person asking yesterday (Sharon) and cc'd me in on the email, I was instantly inspired to scrap it, along with other stories about my friends.

I have been thinking of scrapping some layouts about my friends for a couple of years now, and yesterday's emails threw me into action, finally. I don't have lots and lots of friends, just a handful. I like my handful. I plan on doing a few pages like this one below, telling the stories of how I met my friends and why they are my friends. The first page I plan on doing, which I haven't yet done, is about what a friend is to me. A definition so to speak. It will have a photo of myself, and will have this information on it:

What is a friend?

A friend is someone on whose doorstep you can arrive unannounced and be welcomed (with a squeal of delight and open arms, hopefully!) 

A friend is someone who if you say ‘I have to drive to the city to pick something up and drive back’ they’ll come for the ride just for the opportunity to chat in the car for an hour.

A friend is someone who when you go out for a coffee, you don’t ask them what coffee they want to order, you just order it, because you already know.

A friend is not someone who you have to feel guilty or bad about not seeing or calling. There are no guilt trips in friendship.

A friend is someone with whom you never run out of things to say, yet you can sit in silence comfortably. 

A friend makes you laugh. A lot. 

A friend does not make the friendship hard work. A friend makes you come away feeling good and happy and content, not bad about yourself, or stressed, or annoyed. 

A friend is someone from whom you get short emails and texts that say simply “Hey you” or “How’s it going?” or “coffee?”

It is really really hard to offend a true friend.

For me, my friends all have some common links. They are not drama queens, they are not precious, they are not princesses, they do not care or notice what state my house is in, they are real yet are positive, they are confidant and very secure in themselves. My friends also love food.

Then on the following layout,  I will start the stories of my friends. I got these girls to take a photo of themselves on their Mac's and email them to me.  Here's the first layout that I scrapped late last night, with the first friend in tow. I share, in case you want to know how I met Di.  Journaling is below image. 

Things are straight in real life, my photographing skills are not fab this afternoon.
It felt nice to do a page for ME, as opposed to the kids. It's been at least 2 years since I scrapped for me, I reckon. 

You can either double click on the layout to read the journaling or her it is below:

In 2002, a woman called Diane, whom I did not know, suddenly lost her six year old son, Mark. Mark’s kindy teacher was a friend of mine from church and when Mark passed away, the Kindy teacher organised a group of us from church to make meals for this lady and her family.

So I made a meal. It was ricotta and spinach cannelloni. Someone else ended up delivering it and I never actually met Diane and she never met me. 

A couple of years later, I started teaching scrapbooking at a local store and a very pregnant woman called Diane had booked herself into a class.

I heard her story of losing her son, and then she told me we knew someone in common which was Sheena, the Kindy teacher. I put two and two together and said in the middle of the class " I know who you are...I cooked you a meal!" and the rest is history.  

We now have three daughters each, our children have shared gymnastic classes, and we have shared hundreds, (possibly thousands!) of coffees together.  We interrupt each other constantly and talk about 50 things at once. We both get distracted at the slightest thing. We are slightly blonde and ditzy but, of course, underneath the blondness are brilliantly intelligent! (wink). We go on fabulous low carb diets that last about a minute (though she is much better at it than me).

Now that all our kids are in school, we don’t see each other face to face all the time like we used to, but still chat every few days through email or texting.

I love that Di is real. Di is not a drama queen, she is heaps of fun, and is secure in herself. It’s a very easy friendship.  We have been away for a few weekends together and Di has been known to say: “Girls, I’m wearing my trackies and ugg boots and I’m not changing all weekend”. Love it, that is so Di. 


And here is the next friend's journaling: (hope she doesn't mind me sharing this to the world - a true friend forgives, right?) She is in the air somewhere between Melbourne and Sydney (Qantas employee) as we speak and I'm too impatient for her to land to get permission.

I have only known Robyn for about 4 years but it feels like forever. I knew of Robyn, because her parents went to our church, and I knew them. We got talking one day after church. They had advertised an upcoming women’s retreat in Narabeen and I asked her if she was planning to go. Robyn said “I’ll go if you go” and “can we be roommates?”, which was quite risky of Robyn since we had only just met! I said “OK, you’re on!”

So she picked me up and we drove to Narabeen together and we talked the whole entire way there without taking a breath. We talked for the whole retreat, including into the wee hours of the early morning, and then talked all the way home. And we haven’t stopped talking since. Though I must admit, half the time we are together we are laughing hysterically.

I refer to Robyn as my partner in crime and we only will do something for the church if the other one is involved. We paint walls, we make artwork, we are on committees together and we quit together. If you want one of us, you get both.

Our two daughters, 2 years apart have fallen madly in love with each other and are best best friends, crying if they don’t see each other for a few weeks, and sending notes and emails to each other in between .

We have spent our holidays camping with Robyn’s family for three years now, and I have also converted her to scrapbooking. We shop together, go to IKEA together, eat Baklava and share hazelnut skim lattes together.  We love finding a good bargain together and being creative. Robyn comes to my studio and we paint together.

Robyn loves food, and we can talk intensely about food for hours. Robyn is not at all a drama queen, is not precious, and is real. It’s an easy friendship that feels so much older than it is. 

More to come VERY soon. Tomorrow in fact. Something cool is almost here......