Showing posts with label letters to friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label letters to friends. Show all posts
1 September 2010
7 February 2010
A testimonial I wrote for Russell's dating profile (pretending to be a female friend)
What's not to love about Russell? He's kind hearted, open minded, thoughtful, generous in spirit, warm and genuine. He's a great listener. He's always cheerful (even early in the morning which is ungodly!) and a loyal friend and he's always really great to be with.
Russell has a tremendous sense of fun (more than anyone else I know) as well as a wicked sense of humour and a rapier sharp wit. He knows thousands of jokes (some are great, some are very dodgy!) but more than that, he always sees and reveals the funny side in things and he spreads a lot of laughter wherever he goes. In fact, he'll probably have you in stitches before you know it. He is also able to laugh at and take the mickey out of himself which I find to be a very endearing quality.
Russel has a great zest for life and is always exploring new places and things. If you like to travel to exotic locations, he's definitely your guy. He's travelled all over the world and continues to do so whenever he can. Due to his explorer nature, he always gets emerged in the local activities and traditions (capoeira in Brazil, Irish dancing in Ireland, a Thai cuisine course in Asia, camel riding in Morocco, Inca trail hike in Peru). He keeps a blog of his adventures which has amazing photos.
If you like the great outdoors, you'd also be a great match. Russell is an intrepid hiker and camper when the weather allows - although, to his credit, he doesn't insist that his girlfriends bag peaks with him. He also loves physical activities like skiing, cycling, squash and geocaching to name but a few. However, he's not always rushing around - he also loves the theatre, watching movies and chilling with friends. He's also a great cook.
Russell is very social and loves people. He has a lot of friends which I guess is a reflection of the fact that he's such a friendly guy and a pleasure to be around. Russell is also extremely intelligent but he tends to downplay this a bit. He has a photographic memory and is a king of interesting trivia. He's won many pub quizzes and even appeared as a contestant in "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"!
Russell is also a bit of a Hollywood star. He has starred as a extra in several big action movies and particularly excelled in his one role as a flesh eating zombie!
All in all, Russell would be an excellent partner for a person who loves to laugh and likes her partner to be fun, quirky, zany and adventurous. You should definitely meet up with him. If I wasn't so happily attached, I'd have snatched him up years ago!!
20 December 2004
Letter to Caroline when she left Cambridge
Dearest Caroline
It’s been a wonderful year and I feel very blessed to have worked so closely with you and to have become good friends. Here are some of the memories I shall treasure most:
It’s been so much fun and I will miss you in Cambridge more than you know. We’ll be thinking of you as you return home – and wish you all the happiness in the world. We look forward to having you stay with us in Cambridge soon
Lots of love / Graeme
It’s been a wonderful year and I feel very blessed to have worked so closely with you and to have become good friends. Here are some of the memories I shall treasure most:
- Punting along the River Cam – beer in hand, and nearly falling off!
- Heart to heart chats about life at Sauce – putting the world to rights
- Driving through the snow in Asheville, how slippery it was!
- Trying to make our minds up about some things, like what to take for tea. Librans unite!!
- You sharing your writing with me – I felt very privileged. I can’t wait to read your first novel!
- Trying to find our way back to the hotel in Greensboro – and laughing the whole way
- Playing with little Carla – you’ll make a great mum one day!
- Having you and Nicholas over for lunch to our new flat to show it off
- Bumping into you after I’d locked myself half naked outside my hotel room – how emabarrassing!
- Reminiscing about Mr Titley!
- Checking my emails and ideas with you before I sent them out into the world – and feeling so much better because I had
- The suprise when I found out you like candy nearly as much as me
- The way your eyes light up when you talk about shopping – and those mega shopping expeditions in the US (I can’t believe I spent so much!)
- Your wonderful sense of humour and your great smile
It’s been so much fun and I will miss you in Cambridge more than you know. We’ll be thinking of you as you return home – and wish you all the happiness in the world. We look forward to having you stay with us in Cambridge soon
Lots of love / Graeme
20 May 2004
Letter to Eve (my therapist in London)
Dear Eve
This is an email out of the blue to say thank you for being the wonderful healer that you are. Coming to see you back in 2002 was one of the best decisions I have ever made – and I will forever be thankful to you for helping me to put myself back on track.
If you’ll remember I came to see you at a very low ebb – out of work for many months and feeling close to despair. I felt helpless and trapped and devoid of confidence - and I honestly feared I would never be happy again. I realised I needed to see someone and I searched for counsellers on the web – and your name immediately appealed to me. Eve Dolphin sounded like such a wonderful, friendly name!
The first time I met you I was feeling very low – but your smile made me feel much better. I remember how you emanated such a warm, soul nourishing vibe and I felt good that I had someone to confide in. You mentioned in our first meeting that you sensed I had positive energy and all I needed was to find a way to channel it and I would be fine – and I rember feeling hugely re-assured by that. Sitting in the chair next to your lovely garden, with the sun shining through, and I felt like maybe there was hope after all. You encouraged me to talk about the things that I love to do – and to think outside the box, making me realise that I do not need to be constrained by tradition or the expectations of others (or myself!) in creating the life I want for myself. That I am free to do what I dream, that I don’t need to chain myself to a mundane existence just because that is normal and expected of me.
It was thanks to you that I phoned up all those outdoor adventure companies, to find out if they were looking for a tour leader for the summer. I wouldn’t have dreamed to do this – save for the sense of freedom and possibility that you instilled in me. And when unexpected an opportunity came up, I was wracked with indecision and stress and pain, not knowing what to do – and again it was your support that helped me to summon the courage to go.
And of course, you know the rest. It was the most fantastic, wonderful, awe inspiring brilliant time – 6 months in the middle east, leading young people on 5 week trips from Cairo to Istanbul - a time of tremedous healing and I felt myself grow in confidence and spontaneity and gradually the scared me became confident and refreshed and exhilerated. I felt free to let the real me out – a zany, funny, cheerful me – who I loved. By the time I came back to the UK 6 months later, I felt like a different person. And it was largely thanks to you. If it hadn’t been for you I would never, never have gone…
Of course, it was tough coming back. But I was married and Ally needed me with her. She had been very accepting of me going ( I couldn’t ask for someone more supportive than her) – but understandably she needed her loved one to be present. When I’d been back for a month or so, of course the Volvo opportunity came through – and again I was wracked with pain and indecision. My confidence fell back – and I feared going back into a corporate world of responsibility and burden and stress.
And again, you were a saviour. You reminded me that life was for exploring – and that by trying it out, I was not a captive - just an adventurer exploring something new. And you opened up my intuition too and courage through access to amazing spiritual experiences that unblocked fear and doubt and pain deep inside me.
So yet again, it was thanks to you and the sense of possibility that you instilled that I decided to give it a go. And again, I have been blessed. For although Volvo is not the company I will work for for life, it was another example of the perfect thing at the right time. Last year, I got to travel all over the world with Volvo – helping people to launch sites all through Europe, the US and South America. I felt encouraged to be myself – zany, and positive and slightly alternative, and I grew enormously in confidence and for the first time (inconceivable), I actually enjoyed a conventional job.
This year, Ally and I have moved to Cambridge and I’m still working for Volvo, as their e-commerce manger for europe. In the meantime, Ally and I have been accepted into Australia (we applied two years ago), We plan to work for the rest of the year, then backpack round South America for 6 months (one of my biggest dreams) – and then settle down in australia. All in all, things are going great – I’m keeping balanced, re-awakening old passions like movies and bird watching and travel, and growing tremendously spiritually too though meditation.
The tough times; the pain, the anguish - I can see now - were all a catalyst to new life and healing. For it was thanks to those tough times that I got to meet you and try something different and get out out of my comfort zone. And now I honestly feel like anything is possible.
So thank you Eve – you are an angel. I often said I thought you were a true healer – and time has proved that to be so, so true for me. Whovever comes into your life is truly blessed.
Wishing you all life’s happiness…
Graeme Myburgh
PS – I really like your site, that’s how I found your email address! I’ve just started blogging so if you want an update on what we’re up to, it’s all at http://graemex.blogspot.com/
Cheerio / G
This is an email out of the blue to say thank you for being the wonderful healer that you are. Coming to see you back in 2002 was one of the best decisions I have ever made – and I will forever be thankful to you for helping me to put myself back on track.
If you’ll remember I came to see you at a very low ebb – out of work for many months and feeling close to despair. I felt helpless and trapped and devoid of confidence - and I honestly feared I would never be happy again. I realised I needed to see someone and I searched for counsellers on the web – and your name immediately appealed to me. Eve Dolphin sounded like such a wonderful, friendly name!
The first time I met you I was feeling very low – but your smile made me feel much better. I remember how you emanated such a warm, soul nourishing vibe and I felt good that I had someone to confide in. You mentioned in our first meeting that you sensed I had positive energy and all I needed was to find a way to channel it and I would be fine – and I rember feeling hugely re-assured by that. Sitting in the chair next to your lovely garden, with the sun shining through, and I felt like maybe there was hope after all. You encouraged me to talk about the things that I love to do – and to think outside the box, making me realise that I do not need to be constrained by tradition or the expectations of others (or myself!) in creating the life I want for myself. That I am free to do what I dream, that I don’t need to chain myself to a mundane existence just because that is normal and expected of me.
It was thanks to you that I phoned up all those outdoor adventure companies, to find out if they were looking for a tour leader for the summer. I wouldn’t have dreamed to do this – save for the sense of freedom and possibility that you instilled in me. And when unexpected an opportunity came up, I was wracked with indecision and stress and pain, not knowing what to do – and again it was your support that helped me to summon the courage to go.
And of course, you know the rest. It was the most fantastic, wonderful, awe inspiring brilliant time – 6 months in the middle east, leading young people on 5 week trips from Cairo to Istanbul - a time of tremedous healing and I felt myself grow in confidence and spontaneity and gradually the scared me became confident and refreshed and exhilerated. I felt free to let the real me out – a zany, funny, cheerful me – who I loved. By the time I came back to the UK 6 months later, I felt like a different person. And it was largely thanks to you. If it hadn’t been for you I would never, never have gone…
Of course, it was tough coming back. But I was married and Ally needed me with her. She had been very accepting of me going ( I couldn’t ask for someone more supportive than her) – but understandably she needed her loved one to be present. When I’d been back for a month or so, of course the Volvo opportunity came through – and again I was wracked with pain and indecision. My confidence fell back – and I feared going back into a corporate world of responsibility and burden and stress.
And again, you were a saviour. You reminded me that life was for exploring – and that by trying it out, I was not a captive - just an adventurer exploring something new. And you opened up my intuition too and courage through access to amazing spiritual experiences that unblocked fear and doubt and pain deep inside me.
So yet again, it was thanks to you and the sense of possibility that you instilled that I decided to give it a go. And again, I have been blessed. For although Volvo is not the company I will work for for life, it was another example of the perfect thing at the right time. Last year, I got to travel all over the world with Volvo – helping people to launch sites all through Europe, the US and South America. I felt encouraged to be myself – zany, and positive and slightly alternative, and I grew enormously in confidence and for the first time (inconceivable), I actually enjoyed a conventional job.
This year, Ally and I have moved to Cambridge and I’m still working for Volvo, as their e-commerce manger for europe. In the meantime, Ally and I have been accepted into Australia (we applied two years ago), We plan to work for the rest of the year, then backpack round South America for 6 months (one of my biggest dreams) – and then settle down in australia. All in all, things are going great – I’m keeping balanced, re-awakening old passions like movies and bird watching and travel, and growing tremendously spiritually too though meditation.
The tough times; the pain, the anguish - I can see now - were all a catalyst to new life and healing. For it was thanks to those tough times that I got to meet you and try something different and get out out of my comfort zone. And now I honestly feel like anything is possible.
So thank you Eve – you are an angel. I often said I thought you were a true healer – and time has proved that to be so, so true for me. Whovever comes into your life is truly blessed.
Wishing you all life’s happiness…
Graeme Myburgh
PS – I really like your site, that’s how I found your email address! I’ve just started blogging so if you want an update on what we’re up to, it’s all at http://graemex.blogspot.com/
Cheerio / G
