I e-mailed Kim a few weeks ago. I met Kim four years ago while studying abroad in Australia. He came from Korea and lived on the other side of my wall. We developed a knocking code through said wall, and quickly became best friends. We ate every meal together and spent weekends and breaks traveling throughout the country. On one of our final train rides, we were sitting with our other friend Scott, the three of us reflecting on how painful the upcoming separation would be, how awful the thought was of never seeing each other again, and how much we wanted to preserve these moments forever and never return to our regular lives. “I think there is a reason we were all meant to meet here,” Scott said, all of us near tears, “And someday we will understand why.”

Anyway.

“Crazy Idea” was the subject line of my e-mail to Kim. “I’m in India and you’re in Korea so let’s meet halfway in Thailand. I’m sorry, I should have suggested this before I left, but I wasn’t thinking. Let’s just do it though. Life is short.”

A response didn’t come for a couple days, so I figured the idea was too crazy. Until the day after that, when I got this response:

“Yes! I think this would be the perfect chance for us to re-meet! I like what you said about life is short! We have proverb in Korea” (Kim always had a Korean proverb for EVERYTHING)- “When you think that it is late to do something, that is the right moment to start.”

So anyway… I’m flying to Bangkok tomorrow. Will be gone for about a week and then will return to India for a final two weeks of volunteering.

Happy 4th of July!