Life Cycles

I’m feeling emotional today so I’m indulging in a bit more catharsis.  I hope you don’t mind.

I’ve had the same group of friends for twenty-five years.  Some of them I’ve known for over thirty years.  We went through school together forming friendships that would last decades.  We distracted each other in class, asked boys out for each other and met each other under the clock in town every Saturday.

We got GCSE results and went to college where none of us worked hard enough because we wanted to skive lectures and go to the pub instead.  Some went away to uni, some didn’t, some are studying now and we’ve stayed in touch throughout.  We went underage drinking and then celebrated our 18ths at the same bars and nightclubs that we had already been patronising for two years.

We went on girls’ holidays together…but I’m keeping schtum about that.  After all, what happens on holiday, stays on holiday…

We got into relationships.  Some lasted, some didn’t.  Our friendship always did, though.  We had a mad spate of twenty firsts and a few of us went travelling afterwards or moved away.  We’ve toasted each other’s weddings, supported a few separations, scrutinised new relationships and welcomed each other’s children into the world.

We had our 30ths together, a group of friends with history to share, with a few more lines and grey hairs than when we first met but otherwise unchanged.

So now, as most of us have finished getting married and having children, a new cycle begins.  Eighteen months ago a close friend lost her mum to cancer.  Eight weeks ago my husband lost his mum to organ failure.  Last week another close friend lost her mum to a stroke.

And so it begins.

I know death is part of life.  I know that worrying about it doesn’t change a thing.  I know that time heals.  I know that we need to remember the good times and feel blessed for the time we had.

Still shitty though, innit?