She'd make a Good Friend

a long time ago...and it is quite scary to think it could be more than 18 years now...as i arrived in a big new city to begin my university adventure i will always remember my mum whispering to me "she'd make a good friend" as hilary walked in to the kitchen.

yes mum.

i was probably half listening. scanning round faces and gazing out the windows at the different world i'd chosen to be part of. (manchester you excited and scared this small-town-girl in equal measures!) listening to a hundred different accents and trying to catch what music was being played in the room next to mine. but you were right.

i really can not imagine now what it was like for my parents to leave me there that evening. driving me from  the other side of the country...and leaving me really for the very first time on my own. even though i had been a child who went to boarding school and so was no stranger to being separated from them this time there was no one to be in charge of looking after me.

it is safe to say that i was pretty much oblivious to what it must have taken for them to say goodbye and go.

so seeing a tall pretty and warm-smiley girl walk in to the shared kitchen with her own lovely mum was something i am sure now made my own mother sense a little bit of protection to be had in a potential new friendship.

and naturally we became great friends. some people are there all the way along...you may not see them often but you hold them close to your heart. and i think it is wonderful now that i can look back and think that we have shared some monumental times together. dancing at the hacienda...dancing at each other's weddings.

and now we can delight in our babies! i can not wait to meet wee oscar for real.