it's somebody's birthday...

on september 17, 1985, God decided jamie kim could enter this world.

on january 14, 1986, God decided i could come into this world.

in septemberish 2004, jamie kim and i were assigned to a bible study that met on this campus of 50,000. it is up for debate as to whether our purpose was to become friends or torment our beloved b.s. leader meg ryan, but i like to think we did both...

by septemberish 2007, there was no debate as to why we were assigned to the same bible study as wee little freshmen. God had crossed our paths, bringing this AZN from katy into my life, and making her a 'cornerstone' in my community.

by mayish 2008, we had celebrated four years of living life together...we had gone through ups and downs, "out-of-body experiences," and had even survived traveling together.

on september 17, 2008, our paths no longer joined in the same city. separated by 1669.03 miles, we can no longer sit on our senior couch and drop osteen jokes, or eat sno-beach together, or watch jon and kate plus 8. we can't drive around and shuffle the ipod to our emo music [relient k] or dcb, or go out to lunch after church, or celebrate 23rd birthdays together.

so today, september 17, 2008, my dear friend whom i dearly miss gets to be front and center on my blog. happy birthday to you, mischevious jamie kim, my sour-patch eating, excessive coffee drinking, joel osteen 'loving' friend. because of you, i know it's okay to buy 'your best life now,' or have 'out-of-body experiences,' or to bring things back to me. because of you, i am daily challenged by our dear Lord who brought our paths together, challenged by the way you devote yourself to prayer and to his ministry. because of you, i am blessed with deep friendship and the experience of knowing what it's like to live in community. because of you, i am better than i was four years ago.

i so wish we could have dinner tonight to celebrate your day together, but even more so, i wish you were here to live life with me.