Last week my old friend, colleague and blogging buddy Susan at Reading Upside Down wrote a lovely tribute to our years of friendship. She kindly neglected to mention my extreme tardiness, but the lateness of this response no doubt makes that evident to all.

So – why I am still friends with Susan, after all this time:

• She often recommends great tools for keeping track of to-do lists, planning menus and general home organisation, but doesn’t make me feel bad by actually being organised herself.
• Her iTunes playlist makes my iTunes playlist look cool, even though it really isn’t.
• She didn’t laugh when I thought waterproof shower notebooks sounded like a good idea.
• Keep your friends close, your enemies closer and don’t let people who have photos of you at 14 in your choir uniform out of your sight.
• She always brings food – often homemade for me to taste test. We really need to synchronise our health kicks a little better though, as I will inevitably be craving chocolate when she has her biannual “I need to eat better” attacks and my own fitness frenzies have been spectacularly derailed by her awesome caramel slice.
• We often think of the same thing at the same time, which thanks to the world’s best typo, is now referred to as a Vulvan Mindmeld.
• She tolerates my geeky references even though she doesn’t often understand them.
• She happily plays the wise, sarcastic Dorothy to my combined Rose/Blanche. (Yes, I’m daffy and yet slightly slutty in a scary old lady kind of way.)

Thank you for being a friend

Travelled down the road and back again

Your heart is true, you’re a pal and a confidante.