2010　 Prize-winning works / Other entries from overseas

A Single Friend, My World / Rain Anareyes (PHILIPPINES)

Message from the photographer

These photos were taken with love in each shot, for this is how we express our friendship. They say good things take time, but great things happen in a blink of an eye. Friends are like melons, to find one you must do a hundred tries. A day spent with friends is always a day well spent. We all know that everyone's best friend is more like a family. We are young, we run free, stay up late, yes, we barely sleep, got our friends, got the night. That's how we roll. Making a hundred friends in a day is not a miracle. The miracle is to make a friend stand by you for a hundred years. I have had Virna by my side since first grade. At first, she's the type of person who's always sitting there quietly while I'm the type who can't zip my mouth. You wouldn't recognize her with her glasses and braces when we were in fifth grade. It's cool how we hang along. I have her for 8 years now and I know I'll have her forever. Even if everything goes wrong, yet we're so happy. Why? There's nothing wrong in being crazy. We do stuff together. Through ups and downs, through thick and thin, because we're best friends . . . forever. And no one and nothing can ever change that. She's like my like my living secret box, she knows every single detail of me and I sure know every single detail of her too. She's a person with a lot of fighting spirit, a great leader and a studious one. Based on how she treats things and understands people, you can tell that she's definitely a teen, a growing teen. She's the person who understands me in my silence; the person who knows my weaknesses and shows my strengths. And kidding aside, if we're like a girl and a boy, we could've told the sweetest story ever! I can proudly say that friends are the sunshine of life, my life. True friends are hard to find these days, and I'm blessed and thankful to have one like Virna.

About the subject

Virna has been my best friend since first grade. We have known each other for 8 years. She's the one who gets back up whenever I'm down. I'm thankful, first to God for giving me a friend like her and second to her for always being there. That's why I chose her as the subject of this essay.