I was going thru some stuff this long weekend, trying to spring clean in autumn when I came across the speech that my best friend, maree*, wrote for me at my 21st birthday party. I wanted to share it because it nearly brings tears to my eyes every time I read it.
Where do I possibly start! For those of you who don't know, Del* and I were actually born 19 hours apart in hospital. This means that right now is part of only 19 hours where I am actually a year older in years than Del!
It's been 21 years since those two days when we were born and obviously were best friends since then. When it came to writing this it was really hard to put 21 years of friendship into one short speech. It is hard to try and begin to explain how much Del means to me and what influence she has had on my life.
Del has been more of a sister to me than anything else. We have also been a part of each others families our entire lives. We went to play group together and loved to play dress ups! We went to pre school together and will never forget building the textured garden. Then we went to SW Public Primary School together until Del changed to StM Catholic Primary School. This was a massive change not seeing each other every day. We went to BPC Catholic High School together and started a new part of our life as good catholic girls - I'm so glad that to this day nothing has changed. "Insert friends and families laughter and 'pft yeah right' comments here"
In 21 years there have been a lot of funny times which leave us with great memories that I will cherish forever. But we haven't gone without some really difficult times which only made our friendship stronger - everytime we somehow manage to get each other through it. I now that there are a couple of people who constantly watch over Del and I know she wishes more than anything that they could be there tonight.
I have a few funny memories I'd like to share from when we were growing up. I will never forget Del's ability to sleep anywhere when we were younger - particularly under tables when we went out to dinner. When it all got a bit too much, Del would crawl under the table and catch up on some sleep. That was until she was bitten by fleas at one Chinese restaurant.
For those people that remember the restaurant Sizzler it was a favourite for Del & I. Del was quite fond of the self serve ice cream machine and was helping herself one day until the tears came when the machine wouldn't stop and Del ended up with a whole lot more than one bowl of ice cream.
It was when we became older and discovered alcohol that a lot of our funny times occurred and these are more recent in my mind. Del loves to party and have a 'few' drinks. One night at my place before we were 18 we had a gathering and a few drinks quickly turned into a lot - it was Del that when standing up against the back door at the end of the night slowly slid down the door and "rested her eyes" on the floor. I'm sure it was only tiredness not related at all the amount of alcohol consumed.
Dave gave Del and I affectionate nicknames of ugly and uglier. When I look at Del now this couldn't be further from the truth as I know I have a gorgeous best friend both inside and out.
I know that Del will go far in her life as she has already been through so much but moved forward so far. I would do anything for her and have always prided myself in being her old sister and looking out for her.
I can think of so many words to describe Del - kind, caring, considerate, compassionate, slight crazy, funny, adventurous, honest, fun loving, amazing and my best friend.
I have watched Del's fashion sense develop of the past years - I only hope that wherever she may end up in the years ahead that she remembers - you can take the girl out of Sth Windsor, but you can never take the Sth Windsor out of the girl! "Insert cheers and whooping from fellow redneck family members and friends"
Despite the brand name clothing, shoes and handbags Del owns - underneath the fashionable lady is a shagga who will often burp and blow into my face. This of course is a showing of affection between Del & I.
Del has been a fantastic friend to me and to all the people here tonight. I can say that I am extremely proud to be a friend of hers and to have grown up with such a great person.
You'll always be in my heart
Our friendship has no end
I hope you know how honoured I am
To have you as my best friend
Just another dedication to my fabulous friends.
xoxo
3 comments:
Wow, that was really sweet. You have to treausure friends like that, it's rare to have a friendship last so long.
(smile) Its good to have such long standing friendships.
I have a mate from my school days. I have known him since 1973 ( GAWD!).
So enjoy it Del!
She must be a great friend...you are very lucky
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