Celebrate, Celebrate Good Times: Great song, it will probably be on the playlist but is what it is saying true. I beg to differ, I think our purpose in life is to celebrate all times and that our ups and downs in life are our training ground to have this occur.

I have 5,000 Facebook friends, some I know better than others but I send all of them a Facebook Birthday card, somedays it is up to 30 people but this is one form of celebration I have taken on so I have not limited the time it takes me. I do have a standard male and female formulae and some of my close friends I do special ones for. I am surprised by how many people contact me personally and thank me. So as birthdays and deathdays are our main forms of celebrations what about the other days of the year?

I went to a friends birthday at the Abbotsford Convent yesterday, Dan is a beautiful man, there was his partner Theresa and our mutual friend Karina there. I met two of my 5,000 FB friends for the first time, Shanti and Roman, great people, all of who have interesting things to contribute to a celebration. Remember, as we mature it becomes less important to have a lot of friends and more important to have real ones.

So what do friends do differently to people who just walk past each other on the street:

1. They face problems together

2. They give what they can because they truly care.

3. They make time for each other.

4. They offer each other freedom.

5. They communicate effectively.

6. They accept each other as is.

7. They are genuine and accept genuineness.

8. They compromise.

9. They support each other’s growth changes.

10. They believe in each other.

11. They maintain realistic expectations of their relationship.

12. They honour each other in small ways on a regular basis.

13. They listen, and they hear every word.

14. They keep their promises.

15. They stick around.

What has life said about celebrating friendship and life in general, here are a few of my favourites:

1. Why do we not celebrate many moments between life and death?

2. Remember, you came here for a purpose, lets make it an inspiring one: Message In a Bottle.

3. Oprah would have something to say about this.

4. A great thing to celebrate: Celebrate Good Times.

5. Love and Gratitude are two other words that are part of the celebration recipe.

6. George Bernard Shaw, known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond: Laughter In The Rain.

7. The celebration is not always about happy, happy.

8. Choose to be alive: Born To Be Alive.

9. What happens to celebrations when the festival season is over.

10. Hathaway supports several charities and causes. She is a board member of the Lollipop Theatre Network, an organization that brings films to sick children in hospitals, and advocates gender equality as a UN Women goodwill ambassador. She is married to businessman Adam Shulman, with whom she has a son: Unconditionally.

11. Your Celebrate Life fridge magnets.

12. How would you live your life differently if the life expectancy age was 40: Africa.

13. The Greatest gift you can give to another.

14. More fridge magnets: Hallelujah.

15. And for our final lesson today, be all there.

Remember, life is kind of like a party. You invite a lot of people, some leave early, some stay all night, some laugh with you, some laugh at you, and some show up really late. But after the fun, there are a few who stay and help you clean up the mess. And most of the time, they aren’t even the ones who made the mess. These people are your real friends in life. They are the ones to celebrate life with.

How did Neil Sedaka, Kate Perry and KD Lang get on the same playlist? They all sing songs of celebration. We begin with The Police, followed by Kool and the Gang. Neil is next, then back to disco and Patrick Hernandez. Kate drags us back to the present. We finish with Toto and KD: Don’t Wait Until You’ve Reached Your Goal!!

So, I reckon if we all chose to celebrate life more, my ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included would occur sooner than later. Remember you can have these blogs sent to your inbox from the box on the right-hand side of the main page. Until we meet again my dear friends.