I have some great friends

One of the things that's become clear to me now that I'm leaving Canberra and heading off to Melbourne is how close my friends are. Some of them have expressed their sadness that I'm going. One of my friends told me that I'm the only real friend he has in Canberra, and when he found out I was leaving, he cried.

I cried too. I'm touched by the quality of friends I have in my life. I'm sad that I'm moving on. Most of these friends have been close to me for over 17 years now. Some of them are reasonably new, and yet the quality of our friendships are the same - deep, authentic, and heartwarming.

They honour me with their feelings, and with the connections they wish to maintain with me. I'm privileged to have such wonderful friends in my life. For as long as I've known them, they've always been there for me, and I think they always will be.



They're all good people, who I've been happy to continue being friends with. Every single one of them. They've made an effort to be part of my life, just like I've made an effort to be part of theirs.

I'm going to miss them when I go to Melbourne, but I know from experience that the internet can maintain strong friendships, and sometimes even enhance them.

One of my good friends today was only an acquaintance when I moved to New Zealand in 2000, but via a mailing list I created to keep in touch with my friends, he and I became much closer through the emails we shared with each other. When I came back to Australia in 2007 we had become very good friends by then. All because of email, and our communications with it.

So to try and do what experience has shown me actually works, I set up a Facebook group last weekend, and added all my close friends to it. Those who are on Facebook, at least. Using the group, I'll share with them various updates and stories that I want to share with them, and hopefully they'll share their own updates and stories, and together we'll maintain our friendships despite the distance between us.

That's the plan, at least. Time will tell if it works or not.

I have some great friends. I'm thankful for that.

David, Ken, Garrie, Damien, James, Ella, David, Peter, Andrew, Nick, Stephen. I can't make all of you first in the list, but you're all first in my life. Thank you for your friendships. Make sure you keep in touch. You'll always have my love, and my gratitude.