I would like to nominate my friend J.
J and I have been friends since we were in the same postnatal group following the arrivals of our (now 5 year old) daughters. We gradually became better friends and over coffee while the girls played, we would chat and found we had lots in common and a very similar filthy sense of humour.
J was on hand when my second daughter was born and helped out with DD1 when I was in hospital. Her offer of help was unconditional: whatever she was doing, wherever she was, she promised she would drop everything and come over and help when I went into labour.
5 weeks after DD2 was born, I had to call on J to help again. This time because my wonderful DH had been admitted to hospital and was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I remember the day he was diagnosed, I came home from the hospital in the evening, in absolute bits, totally exhausted physically and emotionally and J and her husband were there. Her husband was busy fixing a leak in the bathroom and J had tidied up the mess I had made earlier in the day in my rush to get to the hospital and was cooking us all dinner. She poured me a glass of wine and made me sit down whilst she took care of the girls. After dinner she bathed the children and put them to bed. I am not sure if she gets how truly wonderful it was to see her on that evening, and just how much I needed someone there. As well as all of the practical things, just having someone there to hug me and to listen to me through my tears, still brings a tear to my eye now.
During the last year of my husband's life, J was there. She has this incredible gift of always saying the right thing, of doing the right thing. She was on hand to help me with childcare if I needed to go to the hospital with DH, and then later if I wanted to spend time alone with him at the hospice. She was always there with a cup of tea and a hug and some bloody common sense! She was there the day of his funeral, when our two daughters (best friends!) played in the church. She took DD1 home afterwards when she had her very first sleep over, bringing her back the following day with happy memories from the day her father was laid to rest.
In the 18 months since DH died, J has always been there for me. She totally understands my hopes and fears, my dreams hoped for and my wishes dashed. We are currently rather rubbish gym buddies: we are meant to be helping each other regain some kind of level of fitness, but instead encourage each other to sneak off early, scoff cake and drink copious amounts of tea and natter away about life, the universe and everything else.
I know she values me as a friend, and perhaps that is why she has helped so much. But I think it's more than that: she is an incredibly special person who has an innate understanding of my situation. I would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart for being such a fantastic friend.
crying now