FRIENDS & FAMILY

While some people see their siblings as just another family member, I see my sibling as a best friend. My younger brother is the only person who understands my life…

People like being recognised for looking good. We put time and effort into our outfits and makeup, so of course we want someone to notice even if it’s just a…

I saw a poster ad in a New York City subway car the other day – “Use technology to make a personal impression through handwritten notes.” Let’s just replay that concept… computerised,…

Being both Ecuadorian and French, I have firsthand experience with the constant struggle of finding a balance between both sides of who you are.

While the notion of a “nuclear family” may have once been the norm, today families come in all shapes and sizes. From divorce and remarriage to same-sex and transgender members, the once limiting descriptor of a family has since been replace with something far more well-rounded.

A friend is someone you can rely on and care for and someone who will do the same for you. How do you know that you trust someone enough to really use the label friend to it’s full extent?

My dad has been tucked away in his old office filing cabinet for the last 4 years now. My mum hasn’t been able to bring herself to scatter his ashes for all this time, and so there he is kept, in a labelled plastic bag on top of his old tax return slips. Except, I don’t think of him as being in there at all.

The thought of being thousands of miles apart from a friend in Holland to hundreds of miles apart from a friend in Florida (where I live), made me uneasy and frankly, sad. Did this mean that my friendships were over?

The most difficult thing for me by far is getting myself to come to the realization that she will no longer be here. Ma will not be here to see me blow out my 28th birthday candles. Ma will not be here to go dress shopping with me for my once in a lifetime marriage.

So, you and your best friend are moving in together! Life seems like it’s going to be a never ending sleepover and fun with the person who just gets you. Then something happens: the flood of horror stories of those two friends you thought would never part but did once they lived together come rushing in.

2016 was a year of pain for the most of us. No matter where you came from, what you believed in, or what you loved, our capacity for pain was tested.

It’s National Sibling Day! Our brothers are occasionally thorns in our side, but they are also our partners in crime. Being a girl in a house full of boys can have its impact, on your dating life in particular.

Your name is marked upon the scars that you healed, the tear stains on your favourite shirts, the nights of talking and the memories. You are my friends.

It takes a lot of love to genuinely believe your mum is the best in the world, and a lot of us do. A lot of us always will. There is no one better.

The truth is that the majority of women have experienced sexual assault at some point in their lives. But how can we help those close to us who have been affected by this? Labeling them “damaged goods” is not a great start.