Challenge 1: A letter to your best friend. (Betsi's Letter)

17 September 2013

Dear Betsi,

It has been a very long time since I wrote you, but time can’t erase the bond we have. I am doing very well. I just got back from a holiday in Cape Town, I wish you could have been there with me. It was an amazingly refreshing experience for me because it brought me closer to myself and realising what treasures I have in my life.

The reason I am writing you this letter is not because we haven’t spoken in a while, but because I would like to let you know one thing; I love you. I guess you know that I love you but I feel you haven’t heard just how much I love you. Since the very first day I saw you I thought you were a spectacular human being. You are beautiful and you have a generous smile. After that day all I had to do was wait for fate to bring us together.

You are an amazing friend and an inspiration to me. I have seen you grow through so many situations. I have seen you accomplish so many feats that I knew you were- and still are- capable of achieving. I have seen a young girl develop into a professional woman and I have had the privilege of calling you my friend for many years now. Our high school experience is something that very few people get to share. The many laughs, the late nights and the great dancing are all parts of why I know that I love you.

It’s no simple thing for me to love someone selflessly especially knowing how I tend to victimise myself at times. You, however, managed to open the door to tenderness, perseverance and openness that I value now as what makes me who I am. Though in life we tend to get wrapped up in our own individual experiences, we have always found ways to keep the love between us alive. That smile I mentioned not so long ago is one of the prime reasons I know I can’t replace you. Your intelligence, humour, hard-core strength and femininity have built our relationship from acquaintances to being very close friends. Remember the time you wanted to beat a guy at Wits because he was making fun of me? I still couldn’t believe that someone would be willing to do for me what I would do for them. Reciprocity.

So, even though we are living our own separate lives and working at making ourselves strong, independent women, I know that we will always have each other. Through the ups and the many downs, I just want you to know that I am here to give you all the support and companionship that I can humanly give. You are a superstar. I know that I keep on gushing about your amazing self, but these words are an attempt at encompassing what every cell in my body knows as true. You, my friend, are my forever.

I hope to hear from you soon, and that we can share more laughs and make more timeless memories as we grow. Stay well and never forget that if anything in life ever makes you feel like you are a lone ship floating on the ocean you have me to call. In the words of Maxwell: “Wherever. Whenever. Whatever. Baby!”

Your friend always,

Kalvin K Kol-Kes