A LETTER FROM ME TO YOU (JENLISA)

LETTER XV

To my cutie Chaeyoung,

By the time my company made our way back to the base, my mental meandering also arrived at a couple concluding thoughts: That if one's asset is sized by the amount of incredible, amazing, fun memories with people that require the same adjectives, I'd be a pretty darn rich despite $90/month salary as a ROK soldier. And that I should be very, very grateful about it. When life is busy, dictated by deadlines and run by blackberry calendars, it is difficult to appreciate how much of one's life is simply a product of the people who are, were, or have been around. But that realization becomes a little easier with an 8-hour meditation walking with few other stimuli, and I'm thankful about it.

We officially finished the training, and left for our assigned bases. I was assigned to the ROK-US Combined Forces Command in Seoul, which is the command center for all US and ROK forces present on the peninsula during wartime (peacetime operation control is with ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff).

Looking back, it is difficult to think of years more eventful than the ones in Thailand. During these years, I went from a photograph-addicted civilian to a rifle-shooting, grenade-throwing Private Second Class, experienced more "exotic" chores than I could have imagined (including manually sorting trash, which included toilet paper from toilets), made friends with people 5-7 years younger than I am, and most of all, learned more about myself than I thought was possible in such a short time. I'm not sure if I'd choose to do it again, but it was certainly a 5-year well-spent that I should be grateful for.

Chaeyoung, Rosé...

This time I can finally say that...

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I'm coming home.

Love,

Lisa