My other half

Emma and I have known each other since I first moved to London about 14 years ago, and she has remained one of my best friends ever since. We lived down the road from each other, were in the same class throughout primary and secondary school, and accidentally on purpose studied pretty much the same subjects so we were always together. Yet, this is by no means an indication that we are at all alike.

Emma has had to endure a lot; she was the person I'd always try my ideas on and bless her, she took them in her stride and never wondered whether I was out of my mind. I persuaded her to model for me in my art projects, and at that time I was very interested in illusion and 3-D art so I used her as a canvas. This is how Emma ended up being painted to look like a zebra one day. My favourite piece that we did was when I painted Emma's eyes onto her eyelids and so she looked like she had her eyes open when they were, in fact, closed.

We were also occupied with making up plans for the future, I wanted to travel and said one day when we were 14 that we should travel around the world together after school. We tried to book a trip to Thailand when we were 16 but Emma's mum rightfully decided that Thailand was not a suitable destination for two 16 years-olds. We tried for New York, Egypt, Morocco but Emma's mum thought it was safest for us to go to Majorca. Not quite as exotic as the places we were dreaming of but we made the best of it and had a brilliant week when I should have been revising for my exams. Then, we broadened the field and backpacked around Europe after my A-levels.

Emma turned 21 today, and so this is an entry to say a massive thank you for always being there throughout my many tumultuous times, for putting up with my lateness, for keeping my feet on the ground and encouraging me to do the things I didnt believe I could.