Those friends are very much like Christmas presents

Wrapped with fancy paper, and bows and little tags.

You take them all for granted on that special morning,

Tearing through the paper, in long and elegant strips,

Pushing each aside with just a cursory glance,

But each was bought with love and thought and you

Just cast them to one side, pushed to the back

Of dusty wardrobes or up in darkened attics.

You’ll need that gift one day though, and then

You will wish that you had cared a little more,

Let’s just hope that it’s not too late

To blow the dust away and love that gift again.

I had a friendship while I was drinking that was really important to me. And it was a healthy friendship because I would go to his house every Saturday night and he would make me food and I would have a night away from the booze.

But, because alcohol clouds your judgement and makes you do ridiculous things, I managed to trash the friendship. It was one of the very last straws and it forced me to get sober, but unfortunately I couldn’t bring myself to go back.

Anyway, almost five years later I decided to message this guy and ask if he fancied going for a run (preceded by a heartfelt apology of course). He wrote back and said yes.

It feels like I’ve healed one of the final things that I had a regret and a resentment over. I realised how special the relationship was as soon as I had trashed it and I am sad that it has taken me all of this time to swallow my pride and fix something I undervalued and threw away.

Make sure that you value the gift of friendship. Those people are precious.

Much Love

Rachel xx