Oh, Friends of Mine

I have come to the realization tonight that the world continues to spin even though I am far away from all the people I care about.

Jeff, Al and Andy are in Chicago with Kel, Beau continues to try to turn lemons into lemonade in KC, Dave is back in San Francisco after sending me to this upside down country, Ediger is in Hawaii dealing with earthquakes, Bridget, Roland and many others are hanging in KC, Nicole is in Dallas and I haven't seen her in years, camp people are all over the world, Wysong and his wife just had a beautiful baby girl (I haven't seen her, but c'mon), Zach is doing college to the extreme and is close to being someone who helps a lot of people in this world, Tom is in Emporia, Sam is in D.C., Mel is in Colombia, Tanner's got a life of his own with a wife and daughter, there are many people still in Lawrence, Ted Francis is God knows where, little Mikey Warner is living it up in Oregon with Dan and Porter's there too as well as Lentz, Huggins is in Honduras, and I'm in Seoul as far as I could be from everybody.

I came to this country to find myself and make a little money. The more I'm here the more I realize the friends I have made in my life are what matter the most to me. Please don't take this as a plea to come home or a signal of homesickness. I absolutely love my life in South Korea, but distance gives one perspective, and I've begun to realize how special my friends are. I guess I feel like I'm so far away that I am a little out of the loop. The only time I've cried in the last six years is when I learned that Lisa died - I knew the pain that was being felt by my good friends Beau and Zach and I wanted nothing more than to be at their side and I knew that was impossible. I feel now that I am so far away that not only can I not take part in others' bad times but I cannot take part in people's joy, indifference or lives in general.

My friends are always what have mattered the most to me, but now that I live literally half a world away from everybody I realize that they are what make me whole. I have learned that I am a strong person in South Korea. I have survived (quite succesfully if might say so myself) in a strange land and feel confident in the person that I am. A little boy sat in his bedroom in Kansas and wondered what he would become, and he is proud of where his life has taken him and the person he is, but he would be nothing without the people that helped shaped the person he became. Although this is kind of weak, this is a thank you to all of you that were part of this process.

I can't wait for the adventures that await me here in Seoul, but at the same time, I can't help but be excited about returning to the States to see all of you.

Sorry to get little cheesy, but I haven't got laid in a long long time and that leads to existential thinking.

Love from Seoul

p.s.- The picture above was taken in the A.M. in the great city of Prairie Village, KS. Pre-season basketball starts in five days - Go Hawks!

p.p.s.- I miss all of you, Hawks fans or otherwise.