Ten days away from New York City, Ten days of moving and packing, Ten days without gym, seven days of junk food, forty eight hours on the road, three trips from Boston to Maine, six night of deprived sleep, three nights in a small motel and my whole body is aching now.

Finally my ten days marathon moving is over. But it is worth of my energy and exhaustion.

I have known my best friend for 3 years. Destiny connected the dot between us one night when I was about to move out of Boston to New York City. We had known each other less than a month; he helped me moving from Boston to New York. I was so impressed.

Time flies and it never looks back. Throughout our joint journey, our relationship has been up and down like a roller-coaster. We shared thousands of tear, smile and laughter. We shared thousands of miles traveling together.

He is the best thing that ever comes into my life. I've never doubted his love and sincerity that he has given to me.

"Life is like a box of chocolate. You will never know what you are going to get" Forrest Gump.

His father becomes sick with Parkinson disease and barely helps himself. His mother is still healthy but it is too much for someone her age to take care of her husband. My friend decided to move back and take care of his dad.

Once I know his decision. I decided to go to Boston to spend time with him as much as I could. Also, I want to make sure that his moving is going smoothly. It is too much for him to do everything by himself given his family situation and the stress of moving.

I know he is so confused. To abandon his freedom, independence and life for taking care of his sick father is not an easy decision. It needs a lot of courage, compassion and sacrifice to do that.

I wonder how many people, in particular, in this individualistic society like the American society are willing to sacrifice their life and move back to such a rural area that the downtown is smaller than 5x5 blocks.

I always remind him of his immeasurably good cause that he is doing. I would do the same thing if my mom were in the same situation. But I know it's very hard to face the fact that the area he is moving to is deadly quiet. I went there three times. I could not imagine what I would do if I had to move there. Nothing really. I could not even use my cell phone there. In winter, the temperature will go down below zero but the snow will pile up more than 20 inches.

It sucks that after 15 years of moving away, he has lost touch with his friends around that area. Plus, most of them already have family and kids anyway.

But I am very proud of him.

Today I have to say goodbye not only to my best friend but also to my son- Fiendly.

Fiendly is a very friendly and gorgeous cat. He is the first cat that tames my fear of animal. He is also the first cat (or I would say animal) that I dared to carry around.

I think Fiendly is so confused as well because we are moving all stuff and sometimes I have to put him in the bathroom for fearing of him running away. I really feel that he is afraid of being abandoned by my friend. I have to assure him that we will never leave him behind.

I will miss both of them dearly.

I am so sad but I do realize this is a fact of life. One day we will all have to say goodbye to each other anyway.

I have tattooed those memories in my life. I will always remember those precious times I had either good or bad. I know I will see him again sometimes in the future.

Sometimes, goodbye might not be the end of the journey, but it might be a brand new start for something better to come.

Two of us have stories that longer than the road we have been through.

Tae Athikomvittaya