Last night, I got to sit right next to the stage at the biggest Riley Awards ever put on by Leeds University Union. Not only that, but I was watching a show which I helped to organise and run, and at the end of the night I was called up on stage and given an award of special recognition for everything I’ve done since I’ve been at LUU – from backstage to opera to course repping and everything in between. It was fantastic.

Now, I’ve thanked most of the people involved in getting me to this point, but there’s one really significant person I haven’t thanked, and that is because I am very socially awkward and I can’t really manage to say any of this in real-life words. So I’ve run to the comfort of my blog to fully express why this person deserves as much special recognition as I do (if not more).

Through the last year, and particularly the last 5 months, I’ve not had the best time of it. I’ve questioned a lot of what I’m doing, I’ve had fallings out and breaking downs of friendships and other relationships. I’ve changed from one quite intense job to another probably more intense job, and I’ve had to do a lot of thinking and make some hard decisions about my future both in academic and in real-life terms. Throughout that, whenever I’ve needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to talk to, I’ve been lucky enough to have a best friend there. He knows (I’m sure) exactly who he is, so I’m not going to plaster his name everywhere.

He is kind, and caring, and always willing to help. Without his support this year there are times I don’t think I’d have made it through, and even though he may not feel that he’s done much, he has. Not only that, but he’s done it while going through a variety of personal trials himself. Half of the things I was “specially recognised” for, were done standing on his shoulders, bringing me to the place I needed to be to get the job done. He’s been there through thick and thin and I’m so happy to be able to call him my best friend.

He’s a person who very rarely gets the recognition that he deserves, and I know this isn’t much, but it’s a thing, written down in the best way that I can manage, to try and do him a little justice.

I can tell you that it doesn’t even come close to expressing everything I’d like to convey, but it’s a start. When I won my award last night, he is the person I most wanted to share it with, so if you are perchance raising a glass (and let’s just take a pause here to question why you’d be doing that while reading my blog….) then raise it to friendship, because it’s the most important thing in the world and I’m blessed to have it.