Seoul survivor
February 15, 2005 | 3:03 pm | Blog | Below The 38th Parallel, Conversations | 0
A couple of days ago Lance sent me this e-mail:
Subject: license to il..
n. korea has the bomb now, yikes! dont forget to pack your sunglasses and geiger counter. i got you a going away gift as well…”How to Survive In a Postapocalyptic Wasteland for Dummies
When I didn’t respond, he sent me a second e-mail:
Subject: Re: Death of a Playwright
want to meet up for lunch tomorrow or sunday? did you hear about n korea? THEM NIGGAS GOT THA BOMB BITCH! THAH-MUTHAFUKKIN-BOMB! scary
This same friend, my dear Lance, also called me at work the other day to find out when C and I were going to be leaving for South Korea. All panicky, as if we weren’t going to tell him.
“This sucks,” he said. “When you and C move to Korea, that means half of all my friends will live in Korea.”
We likely won’t officially move until summer, and then we’ll be gone for three years. But suddenly all of our usually flaky friends want to spend as much time with us as possible.
I was talking to my Mom the other day and she started crying uncontrollably. “I don’t want you to go,” she sobbed.
“But why, Mom? I’m happy. Don’t you want me to be happy?”
“Yeehehehesss,” she replied. “But you’ll – be – so – far – away – from – mehehe.”
Two years ago, after years of false starts, I finally moved out of Oklahoma. Moving to Houston was the best decision I have ever made — not because Houston is that great of a place or because Oklahoma is that horrible, but because I am in a better place. People always say you can’t run from your problems, but I did it and it worked pretty good for me.
I marvel at how much happier I am here. I had gone through a series of devastating relationships, all my friends had moved away, and I felt like college had been the peak of my life, the top of my performance, and there was no place to go but down. You can only be an overachiever for so long before it gets old.
When I moved to Houston, my mom was not very happy. I did so desperately, with very little planning and only $500 in my pocket, a car full of clothes, and a Boston terrier.
The best decision ever. Almost immediately I made some wonderful friends whom I love dearly. I only wish I would have known before how easy it was going to be to transplant myself, because I would have done it much, much earlier.
Now I am planning to leave all this too.
My Mom and Grandma call randomly. They don’t really have anything to say to me, they just want to know if I know when we’re leaving yet.
And our poor friends. They act as though C is just going to steal me away under cover of night, whisking me off to Korea, where I’ll live as his kept woman, writing my memoirs and eating kimchi.
Which I will. But don’t worry. We won’t leave without letting you throw us a going-away party first.