Anyone that knows me well will know just how much my friends mean to me.

Friendship to me is one of the vital vertebrae that make up my backbone. Without friendship.. well.. who would I have a good old bitch to?

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As time goes by people change and evolve, people drift and people form new bonds and embark on different paths and lifestyle choices. This is what we call natural progression.

I have been lucky enough to progress and evolve alongside these beautiful women I like to call my best friends. We all have our different traits but essentially we are the same in so many ways. The way we love to dance till we drop, the way we like to laugh till we pee, the way we try to sing till we screech and the way we are just ridiculous in every way when in each others presence. My girls are my everything and if it wasn’t for them I probably wouldn’t be sat writing this blog right now amongst a lot of other things.

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One friend in particular has played a very huge part in my life, over the last few years especially, so when it came to her birthday at the beginning of this year I wanted to do something more special and sentimental.

Okay, so first of all I did the materialistic thing and took her to Paris to party and get down with our bad selves and basically just let loose on the city.. and in all honesty.. we had a bloody great time! From dancing to the bells up at the top of the Notre Dame to sipping Aperol Spritz’s at the Titty Twister club that whole weekend was incredible .. all apart from the slight hiccup when we got to the airport and realised I’d booked flights for the wrong day back home.. but oh well, we got home in the end so no loss there. If it had all gone totally perfectly it would have been very out of character for me..scatty cow!

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Her present was to be made up of two components. Half of her present had to be doing what we do best (boogying until the late am being a pair of silly sods), but the other half I wanted to give her something she could keep forever. Something that was truly unique to mine and her friendship. This is when I had the idea of writing her a poem.

I hand wrote and posted it, something of a total rarity these days but something I felt added to the sincerity and authenticity that I was aiming to achieve with this gesture.I wanted the poem to recall all the different mantras and ideologies that myself and Giorgie always try to (or would like to) follow.

The poem wasn’t so much related directly to us, but more inspiration for her and for myself and I hope maybe to other people, hence why I decided to post it on here for the public eye.

So here you go, my poem for a friend. I hope everyone can take something away from it like I feel I did while writing it.

Negativity brings regret, Positivity breathes happiness.

‘Life is a journey not a destination’

‘Each person reflects a character,

Each character provides a story,

Each story holds a meaning,

Each meaning creates a purpose.

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Each individual has a mind of their own,

Choices to be made and adventures unknown,

To strive for success, to conquer their fears,

On route will come heartbreak, loss over the years,

But with each obstacle we overcome we grow,

Our personalities will deepen letting our new found strength show.

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We choose our own journey, we draw our own path,

We sculpt our persona, develop our craft,

Seeing is believing, to succeed you must trust,

You’ll be confronted with jealousy, temptation and lust,

Trust in your judgement, your skills and your dreams,

There’ll be times when you start to unravel at the seams.

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This is where your strength takes hold and your courage is key,

You have to choose the right approach, adopt the correct philosophy,

Look up and look forward, not backwards and down,

Smile softly, smile strongly but try to not frown,

Determine your friendships, create that strong bond,

Carry memories that define you, ones that are fond,

Throw chapters away, each one that holds no gain,

But make sure to remember the strength found from that pain.

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Each memory forms a building block, each scar holds a story,

With no pain in the world there would be no glory,

Go and explore other venues, turn a new page,

Anything can happen, the world is your stage.

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You are in charge of your own destiny,

So go and unlock it for you hold the key.’

K. Cavanagh