when i was in korea almost 2 years ago, two of my friends and i had a tradition where we would go out to lunch together every wednesday. after we'd eat, we would usually spend the next hour or so stopping into little shops and poking around or going to coffee shops and gorging ourselves on little cakes and tarts. it really was the perfect way to spend the afternoon: amazing friends, delicious food, and great conversation.

after one wednesday lunch, towards the end of our year-long stay in korea, we stopped into a little jewelry store and each bought a necklace with a pendant of the first korean character of our first names. they were pretty and simple, and although it sounds corny, it made me feel closer to my two friends... especially after we returned to america, back to our respective home states.

it's been well over a year since i've been back, and although we've done a good job keeping in contact with each other (except for recently, sorry girls!), i've only seen my friends once. but i was always reminded of them whenever i wore my pendant.

about a month ago, i was biking around with ben and lost it somewhere along the way. we retraced our footsteps later on foot twice, and ben went out a third time to look again. we stopped into stores that we had passed along the way and kicked through piles of leaves that were covering the streets. it was pretty much a lost cause from the start. to make things worse, the company didn't sell that particular pendant online, so i couldn't re-buy it. as pathetic as it sounds, i was heartbroken. that necklace was a tangible reminder of my friends and the incredible time i had in korea. i cried. a lot.

last weekend, ben and i celebrated 2 years of dating. time has gone by so fast that i couldn't believe it had already been 2 years... but then again, i also felt like i had known ben forever, so i couldn't believe it had ONLY been 2 years. in celebration, ben treated me to dinner at sardine, a new french restaurant in madison (owned by the marigold guys!). as a gift, he presented me with........... a new pendant (of the one i had lost)! i was completely taken by surprise. it was so sweet.

apparently, he had contacted one of our friends who was still in korea and asked her to go out and buy me another one and mail it to him. not too shabby, considering that he only had about 2 weeks in between the time that i lost it and our anniversary to acquire it.

he's definately a keeper.

then, we spent the entire day of our actually anniversary (sunday... we went to dinner on saturday night) at the library writing term papers and studying for midterms.

the end.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 11/18/2006 05:55:00 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.