Friendship

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I have finally realised I am the luckiest person in the whole world!

I travel the world, living here, there and everywhere, but it does not matter where I am, I always have the most amazing friends around me. Friends for life.

And today I want to talk about a very special friend, someone very important in my life.

The gorgeous lady in the photo, not the one on the  left, the other one is Francine, who will kill me when she  realizes  I wrote this post. She hates publicity, but the blog is mine, and I'm so used to her nagging,, I'll say what I have to say. And deal with the consequences tomorrow. 

Francine is my companion for parties, massages, manicures, visits to art galleries, cooking classes, visits to museums, soccer games (in Qatar), lunches, dinners, breakfasts, boat trips, mornings at sea. With her I go to five-star hotels and get lost in poor villages, with the same sense of adbenture and fun.

She is funny, fun, friendly, crazy, intelligent, talented, and lots of other things, but I am not here to talk about any of these.

I have some tales to tell.

Stories that have left deep marks on my heart, stories I'll never forget. Yes, we partied together, we had lots of fun. But she also stood by me in the difficult times I spent here in Bahrain.

She held my hand many times. She helped when i had no idea what to do with my misbehaving teenager daughters,  she ran like crazy to help me catch my running dog who has no sense of danger, she gave me a shoulder to cry on, she was caring and affectionate every time I needed. She also told me off and gave me huge lectures when I deserved them.

She has been with me through good and bad.

 I remember the weekend my dear friend Ian died, and she spent hours kayaking with me while I cried my eyes out.

Recently I had a patch filled with sadness. She came here, took me out of the house, drove  me to a beautiful place and took dozens of pictures of me. Pics with swollen eyes, crying, in despair, pulling my hair out,  looking like a zombi - and then told me I needed to record the moment, so I could look at those images andb make sure I would never let myself feel this way ever again.

One of these days she arrived with a mirror cell phone cover and screen protector.  It was a gift. I thought it was a hint for me to take a look in the mirror in the morning, and at least comb my  hair!

But it was not. She said that the idea was to have the mirror always handy, so if I ever felt down, i could just get the mobile, look at it's mirror cover and remember how special I am...

Now tell me: don't I have the most amazing friends?

Francine, my life is much more colorful with you in it. Thankyou for being my friend!