Introducing the Spice Girls
- Feb 6, 2023
- 5 min read
(Not the literal ones). The Spice Girls I'm referring to here are my cousins and I. We were called that a few years ago by one of our dads and it just stuck for us. Like the original Spice Girls, there are five of us - Aerry, Mary, Elai, Lara and I - and they're like the sisters I never had.
Before anything else, go watch this video that Aerry made for a more visual introduction to us, also because it's such a cute video and I want to have it here as a keepsake as well hehe <3
Anyway, Since I already have a whole blog post about myself (see my first post), let me introduce the others a bit more.
Aerry / Baby Spice
She's the only one who's actually my cousin, when we were younger we took the acronym for best friends forever and changed it to BCF, 'best cousins forever' for ourselves because we were that close and *quirky*. In technicality, her and I are the others' aunts - but it's confusing to explain so we stick with simply calling each other cousins. Aerry is the bubbly, kind-hearted, creative and funny/fun-loving yet quiet one (she gets noisier when she's comfortable). Aerry has a flair for the arts and design. She's always loved drawing, writing and just creating stuff in general and I think she does a great job with it. She also has one of the biggest hearts I know and puts in a lot of effort to share her creative skills with the world and especially her loved ones in the form of video, graphic design, writing letters and making gifts etc. She knows how to make people feel loved and special and we all love her for that.
Mary / Sporty Spice
Mary and I are the same age so we call ourselves the twins. If we were to compare ourselves, Mary is the more confident, calmer, more organised and stable one. I've always admired this about her because we would have similar experiences and she would always handle them better or be more certain about her decisions and until now, I wish I were able to be like that. But it's okay, everyone handles things differently, I just think she's really cool. Despite her cool exterior, Mary is also quite an emotional person and loves hard when she loves someone. She's the kind of person who'd ring your doorbell on a random late afternoon with brownies and a shoulder to cry on when you're going through a breakup (real) and sit there while you let it out without judgement - to be fair, any of my cousins would, which is why I love them so much. She's also 1/2 of the moms in the group - taking care of us, making sure we are behaving (at least relatively) decently and keeping things in check.
Lara / Posh Spice
Unlike the rest of us who live in Singapore, Lara stays in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Since our moms were close, Lara would come to SG every year - and still does/tries to since COVID-19 subsided. But when we were younger, I hated this girl. I would tease her and bully her until she cried. I have to admit I was so mean to her because I was so young and jealous at that time (+ I think I was also dealing with middle-child-syndrome and it was me lashing out on someone who seemingly had it better as an only child who 'always got what she wanted'). I think that happened from when I was six to about eight or nine years old then I think I grew up a bit and apologised to her at one of our other relative's weddings and since then we've been alright. Anyway, Lara is an IT-girl, she's pretty, dresses well and you might think she's snobby but she's actually very tender, big-hearted and generous. I'm so grateful she forgave me and we forged a much better relationship.
Elai / Ginger Spice
If my memory serves me right, I met Elai when I was 11. She was Aerry's friend turned our relative by marriage and I don't remember exactly how, but we clicked and slowly through more family events, we all got closer to her too. Elai is level-headed, logical, realistic and understanding. I love talking about life with Elai because she offers such a mature and rational perspective, even though it may be hard to hear or digest sometimes. I think this is partly because she loves reading books and expanding her knowledge which makes her more insightful. Anyway, Elai's love may be slightly quieter and tougher but it's just as strong and genuine as any of us. She's also the other 1/2 of the moms in the group, giving us advice and keeping us grounded in a firm yet gentle way.
That leaves you with me, Scary Spice, but like I said, I already have a whole post introducing me so I won't delve deeper. I just wanted to write about this group because we were finally 5/5 again two days ago when Lara came to visit and that's quite rare. Even amongst the four of us in Singapore, it feels like we barely keep up. When we were younger we would have sleepovers and it was easier but life has a tendency to get in the way and growing up really makes it harder to keep up so I really cherish the moments we have together even more.
I also just wanted to express my love for each of them through this post since I'm feeling a bit corny tonight hehe. Though we may not meet or even chat online often, these girls are always going to be one of my biggest pillars of strength and support. I'm so lucky and grateful to have each of them who accept me as I am and are willing to go through life with me. Growing up with them has been, and still is, amazing and I always looking forward to meeting them and simply spending time together even if it's just sitting at a table together and vibing haha. Can't wait to see what else life has in store for us - hopefully a 5/5 vacation somewhere soon!
THANK YOU for reading up to this point if you have. I hope it was an enjoyable read and that you'll maybe stick around for another. Follow me on Instagram @aishaashraffx and TikTok @aish.y if you'd like to be more updated too :) Anyway, I appreciate the visit and wish you well!
Yours truly,
Aisha Ashraff
*Disclaimer: We are not trying to claim we're like the Spice Girls or anything haha we just thought it was a cute group name and it fit since we also have five people in this group.
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