Christmas is over and this year and although very different from other years a really good one. I spent time with Droo and Lesley and it was a really lovely day (especially the words Mr Magoo made up ! ) only thing missing was the little one :0)

I finished my Christmas job on Saturday and it was good just to have time to myself, but I found that I had to much time to reflect on things over the last year - which was not really a good thing.

2007 is going to be a year where I centre more on my needs and those of my closest friends. I think I have had a real wake up call in the past 12 - 14 months. True friends are always there for you, and I have discovered a few who have been there to laugh with me and at me and cry with me - these friendships have been symbiotic (word gained from my little biologist).

I have tried to maintain friendships this year that were not really worth the time as they have not be reciprocal, I have given energy that I could ill afford to people who took, and gave nothing in return. I can blame nobody but myself because although I consider myself a very perceptive person, the child in me is still very strong and I maintain the trust and optomism of a child until somebody breaks it.

I could write so much, but it would only be jumbled and confused so below are some of the words that Gibran wrote on giving and on friendship.

On Giving

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;


On Friendship

And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship."
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.