From the Other Side of The Planet

I am late. I meant to write when I wanted to write. Yet I am late, but here I am, little girl who never kissed behind the school gym or in the open, when all were looking.
I have been thinking about you more intensely. Perhaps because we have been seeing a lot of your classmates lately. They have grown up, you know. They are as tall now as you were when they were just short , little kids. You were always different; you stood out in the crowd; you grew up too quickly; and you died too soon..
Well, some of your classmates have boyfriends now. They kiss in public. They have “goo-goo” eyes. When you were 8 years old, I used to worry that you will do all these things one day. That you will embrace boys I did not like; that you would be late to come home on Saturday nights. Now, I wish I had had the chance to be worried like that. Once. And that you had the chance to be late one Saturday night.
I am late. I meant to write sooner.
November 15, 2009
Seoul, Korea
(I was cleaning my desk and found this handwritten note to Ani.)