The first couple we met when we moved into our new place 2 weeks ago? It was them. We bonded over BBQ and sausages. Since then they’ve been coming around our backyard almost every evening. The perfect companions for Bram the Birdman (even at work they call him that now, because of his crazy fascinations with the Australian birds and their songs). It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. They get sausages. We get laughs.
What’s a friend? Is it the person who makes you laugh the most… or the one who laughs the hardest at your jokes? Is it the one who’s there when you want to cry, or the one that makes you cry because he/she’s not there? Is it that person you’ve been meaning to send an email to in months, years perhaps, but just haven’t found the time to reply? Because really, you want to tell them so much about yourself and ask them so many questions about their lives, that you think it would take you ages to get it down on paper. So you don’t. And you grow further apart.
Is it the one that’s really there for you when you need them – or the one that understands it when you’re not?
The one that speaks of the same things you do, but in a different language? Or the one that speaks the same language, but thinks differently?
Is it the person you’ve known since childhood, or somebody you met on the train yesterday?
Is it the person that sends you a Christmas card every year? Or the one who never does?
The one that pushes you – even if you don’t like it? Or the one that just lets you be?
Someone who doesn’t want you to change? Or someone who encourages you to?
Or the person you just shared a beer and some stories with…
All I know is that I want to be a person that lifts others up. To be there when someone needs me. Bring out the best in them, not the worst. Share laughter, as well as tears.  The twist is that I don’t expect a stranger to return this kindness, but from my close friends, I do. So much for unconditional love… Demanding? Yes. Selfish? Maybe. Waterproof? No.
This is coming to you *live* from Dee Why. Our early Saturday morning conversation, pre-coffee.
Me: Â Â Do you want coffee? Or is that a stupid question?
Him: Â Â I’m going to the bathroom.
Me (news broadcaster voice): Â Â Woot Woot, Bramman is going to the bathroom! Â ***CENSORED CLUE***
Him: Â Â That’s how you will know if aliens have ever replaced me.
Me: Â Â …
– He goes to the bathroom –
– I run after him –
Me (exasperated): Â Â If aliens ever replaced you? Why? Have you read my book? Are you giving me spoilers? Are aliens replacing Billy? Him (serious): Â Â No, I just think about that sometimes. Me: Â Â About what?
Him: Â Â How I would know if aliens had replaced you. And how you could know if they replaced me.
He then proceeds to list, in detail, the ***CENSORED*** clues as to how we would find out. While I crawl hunched over the floor. Laughing. Like, seriously writhing in pain from laughing.
That, my dear friends, is the awesomeness of being married to Bram.
PS: Sorry guys, I am under strict instructions not to list the clues. They are censored for ‘security purposes’.
