In order to jump-start my writing here, I’m going to do the 30 letters challenge over the next 30 days. Well, hopefully 30 days – I might not make it every single day, but there will be 30 letters! For the most part I won’t be using names, and I may not do the letters in the order listed below (I know, I like to complicate things, haha).

So, here is the list of what the 30 letter will be about:

1. Your Best Friend
2. Your Crush
3. Your parents
4. Your sibling (or closest relative)
5. Your dreams
6. A stranger
7. Your Ex-boyfriend/girlfriend/love/crush
8. Your favourite internet friend
9. Someone you wish you could meet
10. Someone you don’t talk to as much as you’d like to
11. A Deceased person you wish you could talk to (or, as suggested here, your 14-year-old self)
12. The person you hate most/caused you a lot of pain
13. Someone you wish could forgive you
14. Someone you’ve drifted away from
15. The person you miss the most
16. Someone that’s not in your state/country
17. Someone from your childhood
18. The person that you wish you could be
19. Someone that pesters your mind—good or bad
20. The one that broke your heart the hardest
21. Someone you judged by their first impression
22. Someone you want to give a second chance to
23. The last person you kissed
24. The person that gave you your favourite memory
25. The person you know that is going through the worst of times
26. The last person you made a pinky promise to
27. The friendliest person you knew for only one day
28. Someone that changed your life
29. The person that you want tell everything to, but too afraid to
30. Your reflection in the mirror

And so, without further ado, here is a letter to one of my best friends.

Dear Mum,

Some people say parents shouldn’t be their kids’ friends, that they should always be The Parents and stay that way forever. To those people, I give the finger. Without you as my dearest friend as well as mother, I would not be who I am today. I would not laugh so much, nor would I enjoy your company or the company of my family as much as I do. Your friendship has allowed me to feel safe in confiding in you, no matter what the information is, even if it takes me ages to get the words out.

Your friendship has come with a lot of fun and humour which I am so thankful for. Between you, my two sisters and I, we are the best, silliest bunch of friends and I am so blessed to have that. I hope that it continues forever. To be able to not only have you as a mum, who still mothers us in our adulthood and young-adulthood when we are sick or sad, but to also have you as a buddy to laugh and hang-out with is an absolute treasure. You are never not a mother, but you bring a special sort of friendliness to your role that I have seen many girls without. I truly believe your ability to blend the two is part of what makes you the best mum and what makes me so happy and proud to be your daughter and your friend.

I hope that I get to be the mother of a girl one day, and if I do, I will try my best to give to her many of the things you have given me. I hope that she will love me even half as much as I love you because then I would know that I have been truly blessed as a mother, and that I am doing things right. I hope that I can give her courage in her scared moments, as you have given me; that I can make her feel comforted in her saddest times, as you have done for me; that I can laugh with her constantly as you and I do; that I will take her teasing as gracefully as you take the teasing from us girls. I hope that I can teach her not only how to be a good parent, should be choose to be one one day, but to be a wonderful friend. To listen, to know when you step back, to know when to step in, to be honest.

As any best friend is, you are one of the first people I want to share good news with, to go to when the news is bad. Especially when the news is bad because you are also my mum and you above all know how to comfort me in those times. So, thank you, Mum, for being my best friend. I am so lucky to have you feature in my life in more than one capacity.

Yours with so much love,
Your youngest, your last baby, your friend,
Sam.