| anti-aging wrinkle cream & dyed grey hairs 04.08.02 |
| Why does the age 24 sound so old? I don't like even-numbered ages for some reason. I really liked being 17, then 21, and I love being 23. But in three days, it's over. Even 25, the next odd-numbered age, doesn't sound good. But even if 24 sounds old, at least I don't feel old. That is, up until this past Saturday. When dad was going through the closet downstairs, trying to make room for all our new luggage, he dragged out the old cardboard box that held all my old letters. And these weren't just old letters. These were OLD letters...the Methuselah of letters in my lifetime. Long time ago, Dorc and I sat down and wrote letters to almost all the "older" people in our days...people who are in their 30s now, married with children. But back then, they were the high school and college students and we were little elementary school kids wanting to get to know our older brothers and sisters at church. It must have been cute to them when we walked up to them with letters, asking to be letter buddies. Many were surprised, but looking back, I'm even more surprised at the number that wrote back, and how long they kept up the correspondence. Even when some of them went away for school, they wrote back about their college experiences. And in many, many of them, they encouraged me to grow in the Lord and asked for prayer requests. Some of them would even take us out for outings or for lunches and we'd be their little sisters for the day. It makes me sad to think that relationships like these aren't so common anymore. I would love to have a little girl come up to me with a letter and every week say, "You owe me a letter," just like we used to do. I look at the people now and wonder if they knew what an impact they had on my life. Maybe I didn't even fully realize how much they meant to me until now, when I look back at the letters that they wrote to me. They didn't write a whole lot and it was nothing very deep, but it was special to me that they wrote me letters. They'd ask me questions like, "Is Dorc your best friend? Do you still like to collect baseball cards? Do you and Na fight a lot? What is your favorite subject in school (and don't say recess)?" One person wrote, "Are you 7? I'm 19. That's two of you plus five more years." Now, that woman is married, 36, and has a son. I couldn't believe that she was younger than I am now when we started to write. I also found the first letter that my penpal from the LA church sent to me. Back in GA (the elementary girls' fellowship), we got penpals from our sister church in LA and up until college, I still corresponded with mine. Then there was FW, aka Mom II, aka Queen of Rice Bowl. She was just going away for college when we started that whole thing, with the naming of all of us as Chinese foods. I was Cha Su Bow, but I don't eat that, so I renamed myself Chow Fun. That was the phase when I liked MO, aka Soy Sauce, and we slyly exchanged letters. I read and reread his short letters each time I got them, and most of them complained about how JW wasn't his best friend anymore because he was starting to act stuck up and mean like CY. I also found some really, really old letters from Dorc. Probably one of her very first notes to me is a thank you note that says something like "I hope we stay friends for the rest of our lives," and I have no doubt that we will. I have grown up with many people from church, but when it comes to close friends that I have known all my life, Dorc tops them all. We literally grew up playing together. We didn't just grow up in Sunday School together, seeing each other once a week. Our families did stuff together, our parents babysat for one another, and we were good friends from the start. The amazing thing is that we have these letters and momentos to document our long-standing friendship. At weddings, best men and maid of honors always stand up to toast and say, "I've known so and so since 3rd grade," and everyone goes, "wooww," and I always think, "Big whoop. I've known Dorc since I was a teensy baby." I'm very fortunate to have so many childhood friends, and I'm so thankful for Dorc who goes back so far. (And Dorc, I know you're one of the few who reads this, so this one's for you, foo! heheh...) Then there were also letters from the high school days. Most of these were from TW, SF, and the Bay Area camp buddies that we met. Most of them were about boys...who likes who, who started talking to who after camp, who broke up with who, who is cutest, etc. They're all pretty silly and embarrassing to read, but they're great to keep as well. It's all about documenting your life and seeing how you change and grow as a person. Some also hit harder than others, reminding me of not-so-pleasant memories and experiences, but again, it's good to see how far you've come and that you indeed got through the tough situations that, at the time, you didn't think you could endure. So as 24 creeps up around the corner, I view it as another new year, where I could make more resolutions. And this year, I resolve to write more letters...the hard part is getting people to write back. But keeping in touch will definitely be a priority, especially as I move to Brazil. It's great to document your own life in a journal, but I've discovered that the next best thing is to have your closest friends' letters to keep record as well. In 10, 20, even 50 years, you'll be glad you have them. |
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