I'm a senior this year in High School, and as I look back over my life I see it trail off into the distance like a spool of thread rolled out completely until the end is lost I'm a senior this year in High School, and as I look back over my life I see it trail off into the distance like a spool of thread rolled out completely until the end is lost from sight in the mass of tangled polyester. I was born in Memphis Tennessee where my Dad worked for Fed Ex as the community relations manager. He traveled all over the world doing human needs projects and overseeing projects that Fed Ex sponsored. However, at the age of 12 I was told that we were going to move over seas to the country of Thailand where my Dad was going to start an international disaster relief foundation. To be honest, at first I thought my parents were joking and that they were just saying things, and that it would all blow over, but it became real enough whenever I finally realized that I was in a tight cramped little seat in an airplane on a flight to Taiwan.
We moved to the city of Chiang Mai which is in Northern Thailand. At first everything seemed so weird and strange like I was in a dream that I was going to wake up from soon. I hated being there, I hated being away from my friends and family in the states and all that I had grown up to know and love. The Thai people "ticked me off" because they were different and didn't see things the same way I did. They were constantly asking questions like "Where you come from", and "Phuut Thai dai mai" (can you speak thai?). They didn't seem real to me; like they were always trying to impress the "farangs" (foreigners). However, this stage was only during the first few months I was there.
The first year I was there I went to a school called Grace International School. It was an english speaking school and surprisingly I found a large community of American kids my age. Most of them were business kids like myself, allowing us to form an instant and unspoken connection because most of us had gone through nearly the same experience of leaving the States. This provided some comfort for me and enabled me to go through the transition alot easier knowing I wasn't the only one. I began to actually enjoy living in Thailand, and soon began to pick up the language.
After about a year there, Thailand seemed like home. The asian customs were familiar to me, and after getting to know the Thai people they weren't so bad after all. I had many Thai friends and we enjoyed hanging out. After the first year at school my mom decided to home school me through high school so I was able to spend alot more time at home and also more time with my friends. I played sports at school, and spent alot of time doing extra curricular activities. Then the Tsunami happened.
I'm sure most of the people who read this will remember the Tsunami that devastated southeast Asia's coast in 2004. Well, since my Dad had a disaster relief foundation of course he decided to help. We stayed in Chiang Mai, but my Dad was gone alot becaues he had a guest house down in Phuket which is in southern Thailand on the beach. Here he would bring in volunteers from all over the States to help either distribute food or do construction on people's houses that had been partially damaged. I was able to go down and do alot of humanitarian work during my breaks from school. I enjoyed it thoroughly and have created memories and experiences that I will never forget. After the Tsunami my Dad's foundation did work for over a year and a half to repair some of the damage that was done to the communities. I wasn't able to spend much time down there, however, because I had to do school and take care of the house in Chiang Mai. I was greatful that I was in Chiang Mai, though, because during this period of my life I was able to make some of the best friends I've ever had
During my sophomore and Junior years of high school I met my friend David Fain, and another really good friend Blakely. I became extremely focused on sports and enjoyed a wide variety of sports such as weight lifting, basketball, flag football, track, swimming, biking, and running. I also became a triathlete, which was the sport I enjoyed most of all, and my friend Blakely was my training partner. During this time I also went back to school part time doing major courses at home and taking electives at Grace. That was the most fun part of my schooling to me because I was able to take such classes as Jazz Band (where I played the trumpet), computers, and conditioning (weightlifting). During my Junior year of high school, however, a very tragic event happened.
In July of 05, the month before I began my junior year of highschool, my mother was involved in a very severe car accident. She was riding in the back of a truck that was hit head on as it was turning into a side road. She was not seriously injured, although, she did injure her ankle in a way that at first only appeared to be minor. After a couple of months, though, the pain in her foot wasn't going away but only increasing. So she went to see a doctor. His report was that she had developed a very serious disease of the nervous system called RSD (reflex sympathetic distrophy). This disease causes you to feel pain where there is no reason for it, and if not contained could spread to her whole body causing her to be constantly in excruciating pain. My mom battled with it for a few months, but after not being able to receive enough treatment in Thailand we were forced to come back to the States to receive further medical treatment.
I was very disappointed in this decision because I had been looking forward to spending the rest of high school with my friends and graduating with them. Yet I knew I should go back to the states to be with my mom. So I left in Thailand all that I had grown to love and see as home, and I miss it very very much. Which brings me to my current situation.
I am nearly half way through with my senior year here in the States, but I still stay in contact with my friends over there. I eat Thai food as much as possible, and enjoy suprising the Thai workers at the Thai restaurants here in the States. I will hopefully be going back to join my friends in Thailand in January where I'll finish up my senior year before coming back here to go to college.
My life story has deffinitely had too many ups and downs to be able to put in such a composition as this one. This is only scratching the surface of my first 18 years, yet I believe that all this happened to me for a reason. My experiences overseas have molded my life in a way that only they can, and left me a more complete person in the sense that I have a more open mind. It has impacted me in ways that I may not even realize, and I know that it has made me a better person in general. So as I look back on the spool of thread that represents my life; although I can't see the end i know that the spool will be much larger than it is now by the time my life is through, and my experiences in Thailand will help me through it.
I've also written the following poem on Asia to try to implant in the readers mind a picture of the Asia that I knew.
Asia
As I peer through the smoky morning mist
The green side of the mountain looms like a shadow
I hear the chants of the monks like the pulse in my wrist
Yet I know what gives depth is only transparent and shallow
The monkey screech startles me and sends me on my way
Along the rice patti, where endless toil merges with my state of being
Yet I know that one day hope will come and my suffering be relieved
I will know it no more
It will be lost like a grain of sand on the seashore
The present calls as the water buffalo snorts
He's ready for his day's work or does he just want his wages
The sun is ready it's already on it's way
From behind the mountain to signal the break of day
And I wonder if all the world knows
Of this land where beauty is not lost amongst the sorrows
Of life and of living
Of joy and of giving
This, this is the beautiful land of Asia
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