Friends are the families we choose for ourselves

I'm really blessed with the friends in my life. What I probably should do is pick up the phone and thank them personally for all their imput into our lives, but I'm too busy (lazy) to do that. This post will have to suffice. I have a definition of family in my mind. However, after my mother's death, my immediate family (and by that I'm talking about my brother) has fallen apart. I remember how after her funeral, he got into his car and drove off and I literally didn't see him for weeks. Then he pulled himself together and got back into the routine of coming over for dinner and movie nights again. Then he met his girlfriend and suffice it to say, that was the end of dinner at our place with him. I grieved his absence more than I did the loss of my mother. Because at least with her, I KNEW she wasn't coming back. It's been a painful process, this dealing with the loss of my brother. This is where friends come in. I'm a firm believer that people come in to your lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime. I have a lot of people I classify as friends, but only a handful of them have made it into the inner sanctum. Some of these people I have known for a lifetime indeed. Others I have met while travelling through life. Then others have popped up in an absolute astounding way and stuck around when I was sure they wouldn't. Let me tell you about the latest addition to my inner sanctum. They are a wonderful group of women who I met through a knitting and crochet website. Of all the places. The first day I met them, I would never have laid money on them becoming people I would call my family. Yet, this common thread of craftiness has woven its threads through our lives and I would absolutely call them my family now. Indeed. They are. Our move to Kyneton has meant that I have taken myself away from where the majority of these women live. Sometimes I feel very far away from what's going on with them. Sometimes I feel not part of them at all. But that is only me being silly and insecure, because I know this is not the case. I know that these women are the most reliable people in the world, who ARE there for me whenever I need them. Amazing. I may have lost a brother over the last two years, but I have gained many sisters in his stead. And let me tell you, a girl will never let you down...