Our Own Story

07/10/06

One of my friends visited me today. I realize I have not seen her for at least 12 years. We met at the Union Square and then I took her to the Culture Center and chanted for half hour.

She has changed and grown up to be a pretty woman. I took her to dinner and some desert after. Time flies so fast, too fast actually. We have known each other for more than 20 years.

We talked about life. She told me her life story. She moved to Atlanta for a year now and always called me when she had problems that she needed someone to talk to. We talked about when we were young and how our families were struggling so hard to get by each day. I remember my mom always helped her family even though she was struggling herself.

When we talked about it, I realized how kind of my mom to people around her. My mom loaned my friend’s family money even though she did not really have money at that time.

We all have our own life story. Life story is like a destiny. Her life story is unfolding to the upward trend. When she talked about my mom, how nice she was to her family, my eyes started watering. I feel like sometimes life is unfair because the story of good people often end up with tragedy.

Someone say we write our own life story. I would say we can write it to some extend but beyond that we cannot control it. Our stories are led by something that is beyond our understanding.

We exchanged our story. I am glad she is very happy and her life is getting better. While I was trying to encourage her not to give up, deep inside, I was trying to tell myself the same thing. I feel like my own story is reaching to the critical point. It is very critical that I am scared to see how it will unfold.

But it is our life story that we are somehow destined to walk through. Either good or bad, we have to try to live with it.

Tae Athikomvittaya