An open letter to my best friend

Dear Manang Jil,

This is a way for me to express my love for you, because you're my most favourite person in the whole wide world. You're my cousin, my best friend, the sister that I never had, my confidant, my cribmate and the person whom I spent my whole childhood with.

I was born before your birthday, right? So that basically meant that I was God's gift to you (lol). You were so excited to see me that you spent a part of your 3rd birthday at my house on my 1st day. When I looked through my photo album, most of my baby pictures were with you in it. In every page, there you were. I also saw a picture of us sleeping together in a crib. When I asked about it, Mama said you wouldn't leave me alone to the point that you slept in the crib with me.

I also remember that I wouldn't go with my age group when we were both in Sunday school, because I didn't want to leave your side. I told every one of the Sunday school teachers that I wouldn't attend if we weren't together and you begged with me, too. From then on, I came with you to YouthBlast and church plantings as soon as I turned 12. Which kicked off my journey with Jesus, because that's when I got saved.

You know how sick I was when we were kids, right? Whenever you would visit me at the house, you always saw me smoking through a nebuliser. I remember you sitting beside me as soon as you came in and you hugged me tight. You asked Mama, "okay lang si cousin?" You were always the sweetest out of all of us, so you looked at me for a second and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

We never really said "i love you" to each other, but I knew how much you loved me. I honestly don't remember the times that we fought, but all I can remember now is how much you've been good to me my entire life. You don't know how grateful I am to God that He gave me a best friend like you. We may be cousins by blood, but we became best friends by choice and I will always be thankful.

I know you're disappointed that I couldn't be there. There's no one who's more sorry than I am that I'm not there to watch you walk down the aisle in your pretty white dress. I'm truly happy that you found someone to spend the rest of your life with and I can't wait to meet my future niece/s and/or nephew/s. But before that, I hope you and Nong Peter will visit us soon here in England, so that I can hug you tight as you have hugged me so many times.

As you are the first to get "hitched" from the Galvarole-Aragona bunch - which is fitting, since you're the oldest - I hope that you'll give us plenty of advice once we're on our way to where you are now. Sometimes it's surreal that you're about to start a new chapter of your life and this feels a little like saying goodbye, because I've been so used to it just being us even though we've been physically apart for more than three years.

I know that things will be different and that I will no longer be your number one best friend, but I'm glad it's someone that I've been looking up to. I'm glad that it's someone whom I don't have to intimidate, because I know he would never hurt you on purpose. I'm glad that it's someone who's passionate about God and someone who loves Jesus more than you. I hope nothing but pure joy for you and Nong Peter even when times are tough.

I love you, Manang. Thank you for everything. Congratulations, best wishes and may God bless you both!

Love,

Loishee ❤️