Friendship!

Many women from all around Australia and overseas are part of the RoseMary's NoteBook© mailing list.   They're all very special women, and over the years we have come to know each other, and in many cases to share each other's problems and lives.   It's amazing how having a friend, even the other side of the world, can brighten and lift us up should we be feeling down at heart or worried about life issues and matters.  One thing that I have always guaranteed and plays a big part in my Code of Ethics which I set back in 1991 is confidentiality.   I am proud of the fact that I have never digressed from those aims and objectives.   Women trust me, and I hold that trust very high.

With the arrival of the storms that hit Australia in the early hours and days of January, which have continued unabated and increasingly fierce with the arrival of Cyclone Yasi, many of my friends have been effected by these incredible occurrences.   Not only in Queensland but in most of the other States as well, as the torrential rains and floodwaters continue to cover vast expanses of this, the "driest continent".   The tail of Cyclone Yasi is expected to bring even heavier torrential rains into Victoria, where an "inland sea" continues to cover many parts of the North West.  Those rains are also expected to concentrate on the North East as well.

The personal and financial bills of these floods and now the cyclone are almost beyond comprehension.   Thousands upon thousands of families have been effected and in a sad majority of cases, relationships are already being torn apart.  Children are traumatised.   Homes and farms that haven't been washed away are still under water and could be for another two months - how does one deal with that?

At times like this we are at a loss to know what to do.  Those who can, volunteer to help out through agencies and by individual assistance.   Those who can, give financially.   Those who are limited in their ability to do much at all, do what women have always done, sat and prayed about their friends.

And this morning a darling friend of mine from Louisina, USA, wrote to ask how I am faring.   Now that's a sign of friendship.   Writing a loving message from the other side of the world to say that she's thinking of me.  

And that is the sort of thing that friends do.   Not only care about each other, but tell each other that they're important.   And my dear friend has done just that.  She's reminded me that a few words can make a difference to how we feel - about circumstances, about ourselves and about our lives.