Random thoughts

Growing up in an ultimate nuclear family meant I never had the typical childhood experiences that most people have - spending summer vacations at grandma’s place, celebrating festivals with cousins, big family reunions at weddings... but I had something that more than made up for the absence of a familial support - FRIENDS! My friends were (and very much are) my family. I have been blessed with friendships that have lasted decades and continue to grow stronger with each passing day. While not every friendship has lasted that long, each friendship had its individual role and has been equally important and beneficial during its lifetime. At the age when quantity of friends mattered, I was receiving enough number of “friendship day cards” to make me feel secure. Once the true significance and meaning of friendship dawned upon me (and the number of cards been given out and received decreased significantly), I realized just how lucky I am to already have that cordon of friends I can completely rely on for my varied (and weird) needs! I have friends to discuss - and, of course, complain about - movies, books, cricket, “certain” cricketers, politics, theatre, my mental health, their mental health, children, fitness, family, philosophy, career choices... and even a couple of friends to complain about! I have friends to reminisce about our past memories and friends to dream about our future together. There are brunch friends, lunch friends, coffee friends, dinner friends and friends where true conversations don’t begin before 2am! There are friends who have never seen me without tears and then there are friends who believe the only tears I shed are when I laugh too hard. There are friends who have become family and, more significantly, family members who’ve become friends. Blurring the lines further, I married my best friend! And of course there are a handful of those who are so that I can be...

So today, on friendship day, I can truly say, my cup runneth over...