A Friend of Mine
A memory that should have been either locked away, or forgotten comes up around this time every year. It is difficult to call this a painful memory now, and it only stays in my heart. I would reminisce the times I spent with her, how they were joyful and also regrettable. She was not one my closest friends, but we could have been closer. If only I spent more of my time and energy with her.
Her name is Morning Dew. Just like her name, she was beautiful and bright. She was bouncy as a ball, and joyful all the time. She was taller than me just by an inch. She had fair tan skin and bleached brownish hair which was not her natural hair color. She was more familiar with Korean than English, and at your first look, you can notice that she looks very Korean. Not only that, she had a great smile all the time on her face.
I met her in Middle School, when I went to an Outdoor Education camp and all our school branches traveled together. She was from a different branch. I did not meet her on the first day, since it was just orientation and the students were set in different groups. I met her on the second day as we became same groups but in different branches, and was overjoyed to find someone of my age that was Korean just like me made me. During that time, I was lately in to a Korean idol group, and we got along well by singing the group's songs and playing around together. She did have a fair voice as well, we sang until we lost our voices. However, a week went by quickly and we had to say our goodbyes and bid each other farewell.
Two years later, I was able to see her again. This time she came to my school branch, which was the main branch. Frankly, it was quite difficult to recognize her at first when I saw her, since she had changed so much from when I last remembered her. The fair tan skin and her bounciness had disappeared. But being in the same school this time, I was able to know more about her. I was surprised to see that she had memorized her locker combination by using the Korean Soccer Team players, which was rarely memorized by many other Korean people. She was Korean by heart, and was proud being Korean although she did not live in Korea. She loved Korean things, and loved to talk about Korean dramas and TV shows. It made sense when I was able to befriend her due to our matching interests. She was always smiling, and laughing when I met her two years ago, and her personality didn't change much, just her looks.
I had other friends and was in a group, so when I tried to spend more time with Morning Dew because we were both Korean and she was new to our school at that time, one of my other friends was a little jealous since she thought that Morning Dew would take me away from her and our little group. So we decided to invite her into our group. My friends told me that, "We like hanging around together with her, but I think that she is really skinny and weak. Do you know what is happening?" Unfortunately, I did not have a clue. I knew that her characteristics of being sweet and generous did not change, but as I mentioned that I was shocked to see her transformation in only two years, she did not seem to notice that she had changed so much from then. I could not tell her the change up front, since I presumed that it might hurt her feelings.
To make the matters worse, a series of unfortunate events came strolling in. My friend had chipped her teeth by falling accidentally, and she was crying. I had to go with her to the Nurse's Office. While on our way she told me, "I am glad you are my friend. Thank you." She seemed fine, but actually she was not. No one knew that she was anorexic. A few days after she was brought to the nurse's office, she was sent back to Korea. I was not able to see her ever again. She did not come to class, and I knew later on that she had left. Things seemed a little different after she was gone. Everything she had left, in her locker, was still there. I was not able to say good bye to her. I had no idea that she was being sent away so quickly, so no one knew. Four days passed and my friend, Morning Dew had passed away.
The whole school had a memorial service for her the following day of her death. When I heard the news, I could not help but feel a deep regret within myself that I had not given more of my time to be better friends with her. We could have been so close however, I just felt like God had taken her away from me. I cannot remember a day when I cried so much in my whole entire life. The funeral was a memorable day, but the only things I remember was the school, me crying at school, and people talking about her around me. During the memorial service, I remember a little girl say that Morning Dew was her hero. I completely agreed with her since I knew my friend's character and how she lit up my world with cheerfulness as well. I probably was the one who cried the most that day. It still hurts me now when I think about her, but as the years went by, I am hurting less and less. The best thing I remember about her was her smile. She had a great smile. A smile that I would never forget.
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