One, seven, one, seven, one

Unusual title for sure. 17171. It actually happens to be the birth date of a good friend of mine (younger I admit but a good and true friend nevertheless). I honour him the title to this little blog for the many gems of wisdom he has passed me throughout our friendship. You see 17171 happens to have one fantastic ‘Wise Head’ on young shoulders. Over our near twenty year friendship, I sometimes found it difficult to figure him out or understand his wisdom for sure but as I get older and the fog of life starts to clear I see his great wisdom. He has also been such a courageous inspiration to me as he has carried himself through a very difficult period of ill health and continues to do so with such dignity that my admiration deepens. One gem of wisdom he imparted on me (which took some time to penetrate my thick skull was to mark a ‘Birthday’. It was not something I ever did. Birthday’s came and went with little ceremony or fuss. I looked on in bemusement when 17171 took his day off work to ‘Mark’ his birthday albeit with little fuss and just the sound advice when I asked why? to ‘Always celebrate another year on this earth, mark the day, be thankful for another year’.

I now know how important it is to ‘Always celebrate another year on this earth, mark the day’. Our time is precious.

There is one wise quote that says it all about my ‘Wise’ friend. Here it is.

One, seven, one, seven, one continues to face the challenges with his usual strength and steadfast focus to overcome them, inch by inch row by row. He will find little things every single day to be thankful for. Whether it be, for feeling a little less under the weather, or one of his children mastering something new or challenging. I admire him greatly so I will honour him with these words. ‘Thank you for being a friend’ .

We all probably have somebody who we should say ‘Thank You’ to more often but life gets in the way, we get busy being busy.

A card, a quiet word, a call on the phone with a line that ‘something just came up and it reminded me to say ‘Thanks’.

It may be for nothing in particular or it may be for always being there.

Just imagine how you would feel if that friend was not there anymore and you left that ‘Thank You’ unsaid.

Liam, ‘Thank you for being a friend’.