Best and worst of the week (Jan 13)

Ahoy there fellow teamsters!

Today might be Black Friday but I refuse to let idle superstition get in the way of what has (despite the black cats with shattered mirrors strapped to their backs walking under ladders) been a pretty fancy week. You know how everyone talks about the post-holiday blues? Well, I totally expected to get that. But I didn’t. This is probably the result of a combination of being too tired to function normally and actually being glad to be back in a normal routine that doesn’t involve the careful cultivation of my couch-groove.

[I totally wasn’t even paid to say that!]

But I have other bests.

Best: 2012 is the Year of the Wedding for Rick. Not me personally (obviously) but three of my very best friends are hitching their fortunes on wedded bliss in the space of four months and I’m quite heavily involved in all of them. The order goes: MC, groomsman, groomsman.

You know, I’m not afraid to say that I love weddings. For roughly 99% of any given year I have the emotional depth of a fibro wall but weddings make me so gosh-darned happy. It’s that kind of reassuring feeling you get when you see the happiness in your friends faces to know that they have found people they genuinely love and want to hang out with, even if it means the odd argument about the correct manner in which to open the flour in the pantry. I started the week with my friend Seema discussing her nuptials. Hers is a days-long celebration as she has friends coming from the United States and it will be divine. I warned her that just because I am on MC duties, doesn’t mean I’m going to lay off the wine. Like any true friend, she understands this.

Excited.

Worst: Reading the story of Sheniz Erkan who took her life on Monday after being bullied. The story is tragic in its own right. But, selfishly, I always think back to my own time in high school and every instance of bullying where my friends and I didn’t say or do enough to stop it. It’s enough to make you want to visit every school in the country and look every kid in the eye and tell them: “You know what? Bullying isn’t going to make you feel better. It won’t heal your own pain and it will hurt someone else. And if you see someone being bullied and you’re not doing anything about it? You’re just as bad. Silence is hurtful.” I wish there was some way to not only tell but convince bullied kids that they have worth and that their worth will extend far beyond the school gate. Because it will, and we need them to stick around to realise it. In the meantime, if you’re being bullied or know someone who is, talk to them and send them here, to headspace.

Right, now that I’ve unloaded all that on you, time to return the favour.

How has your week been, what’s your best and worst?