Doing the time warp

Last weekend was spent doing the time warp with four incredible women, Shaz, Fran, Ros and Shelley who I had known since I was eight years old. Grade three was when I met them. I was the new Pommy girl who was eager to find some friends. After being teased about my Brownie outfit, my poor attempts at hand stands and my lettuce and salad cream sandwiches I was welcomed into the inner sanctum.

As with most groups of girls we had our differences but overall we pretty much stayed in tact all the way through primary school, high school and into our adult years.

Time passed, we got jobs, got married, had children, moved to different locations, lost touch,  got back in touch and somehow or other we managed last weekend to get all of us, bar one, back together for three whole nights under the same roof with no kids and no husbands!

I hadn’t spoken to Ros for over 20 years, I hadn’t seen Shaz for seven years, I had caught up with Shelley at a school reunion three years ago and Fran was the only one I had had recent contact with.

To say I was nervous was an understatement. “Will I still like them, will they like me, what if we don’t all get on now, how will we go spending three nights under the same roof, what will we talk about and what if they bring up some memories that I don’t want to revisit.”

My anxiety however, was not warranted. From the moment Fran and I collected the other three women from the airport we didn’t stop talking and laughing.

I did still like them, we did still all get on and yes there were some memories that I cringed from (did I REALLY do that!) but I guess you don’t hang around with four girls all through school and into adulthood unless you have a special bond.

That special bond is love, respect, compassion and a whole lot of wonderful memories that will bind us together indefinitely. Even though we have grown into four very different women with different thinking styles, different ways of doing things, different interests and different values, we all respect each other and treat each other with love and compassion.

Happiness is recognizing that not everyone will see the world through your lens and accepting that. It doesn’t mean that you have to compromise on who you are, it just means that you get to surround yourself with a crazy quilt of different and imaginative people who will open the door into a different world.

Life wasn’t meant to be boring and the weekend with these crazy beautiful women was anything but that!

The next time you meet up with friends and family who you know don’t see the world exactly as you do just remember this:

Great relationships are not when perfect people come together. It is when imperfect people learn to enjoy their differences.

Be happy, colour the world.

Claire