Originally drafted on 28th April 2020
Dear Ro,
Welcome to 32! You’re officially so deep in the 30s club that there is no tottering around the late 20s anymore :-p.
So without any further delay ( lest we see a gray hair jutting out ), I’d like to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to the most amazing brother that has ever been and list 32 reasons why your life has been a blessing to me:
1. For making me feel like the world revolved around me and I was the center of attraction when I was little.
2. For being fiercely protective and annihilating bullies in my life.
3. For always making sure my birthdays were special, even if it meant pitching in all your pocket money.
4. For countless laughs and memories I’ll cherish forever.
5. For being my partner in crime and pulling off innumerable pranks on the least suspecting people.
6. For making sure I’d clear my math exams, even when I came to you last minute.
7. For letting me win an arm wrestling match with you every once in a while, just so I could feel strong, even when I really believed I wasn’t.
8. For taking the blame for numerous shenanigans of mine.
9. For knowing when to lend a listening ear and just sit there with me and when to tell me to stop whining and do something more productive.
10. For always lending an honest critique to so much of my writing work.
11. For speaking volumes even when you said so less.
12. For occasionally letting me have half of your last piece of ‘Hao Ming’s’ Mint Fried Chicken, when I’d have devoured mine in 5 seconds and then look longingly at your plate.
13. For always letting me have that last slice of chocolate cake (partly because chocolate was never your flavour, but still :p)
14. For helping me get extended curfew.
15. For teaching me how to text crushes.
16. For helping me develop self-defence skills, with fights both mock and real.
17. For helping me discover, much to my pleasant surprise, that even boys have tear glands that can well up when an emotional scene plays on TV.
18. For being the perfect companion to watch cartoons with.
19. For helping me cultivate good taste in music, books and updating me on everything that was trending.
20. For making me an expert at voice modulation, just incase a girl’s mum picked up when we called her landline.
21. For giving me the truth without mincing words.
22. For always challenging me to be the best version of myself and not be satisfied with mediocrity.
23. For teaching me to that it is possible to show unconditional love; to a parent, partner and a friend.
24. For teaching me to make compromises, even when the TV program is not to your liking. Because that is what you do for people you love.
25. For being harsh when you needed to, because you knew the world was not always going to be kind.
26. For teaching me that dreams do come true if you believe and living a life that exemplifies this.
27. For helping me learn how to share; Be it space, toys, parents, clothes, food, life and destiny.
28. For teaching me how two is better than one and how we could achieve so much more as a team.
29. For helping me learn that life is easier when you don’t take things too seriously and always helping me see the humor in things I had labeled as ‘devastating’.
30. For pushing me off the couch and engaging in a HIIT workout.
31. For giving me the confidence to uproot myself and move to a foreign country.
32. For helping me learn that it is never too late to start looking good :-p
I hope that this year you are blessed beyond measure and that all your wishes come true. You have been a constant in my life throughout my ups and downs and I cannot imagine my life without you being a part of it. Keep shining and stay the same. Love you loads.. Always.
Love,
Shal