Reunited

A bit of an emotional reunion with my friend on Sat.

We go way back. She was 11, I was 8. She was a girl from a small town in Iwate, I was a foreigner visiting my aunt for summer vacation in the very same town. Her family owned greenhouse farm and my aunt's house were next to each other so it didn't take too long for us to become friends. But what really bonded us were letters (and I must reiterate that these were snail mail back in the day) we exchanged over the years.

We must've written close to 100 letters over the course of 15 years. We've lost touch the past few years but very recently we reconnected again on Facebook and we decided to meet up since she was in town for a seminar.

Before meeting up, I was a bit scared on how I would react since not only was it our first time to meet in 7 years but also it was the first time ot meet since the 3.11 earthquake. We both lost a town that we once called home. I lost my uncle, aunt, and cousin. She lost her parents and countless friends.

But all was forgotten once we met up. It was just a fun-filled non-stop catch-up talk for 7 hours. I think it was more of an emotion of relief and bond that we cherished more than the sad past we are trying to overcome.

She's always been somewhat of my hero and a sister. She always gave me clean-cut advice in her letters and her passion and zeal towards her career in nutrition has been such an inspiration to me. Even in the darkest of times, her positive attitude and kind spirit has always kept me going. Her strong will and compassionate aura is definitely someone I look up to.

What a treasure to have a sister like her. Love you!!!!!