Mami

Back in elementary school, I tended to become friends with people that were not originally from Canada. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. One of my best friends from grade three was from Mexico, and in grade four from Taiwan, and in grade five I became friends with one of the sweetest girls I have ever met in my life who was from Japan. Her name is Mami, and I will never forget her for as long as I live.

We were inseparable. At school, we always sat together and did projects together, and hung out at either one of our houses after school. At this time we were obsessed with Pokemon (and I mean obsessed.), so during recess we would pretend we were Pokemon running around the field. Yeah, we were cool. Her younger sister, Aya, would also hang out with us. And I remember whenever I would go to her house, we would play Hey You Pikachu and Pokemon Stadium on her N64. We also watched the first Pokemon movie in Japanese, and I remember I was so excited because it wasn't even released in Canada yet. Mami would always give me gifts too. It's a part of their culture, to give gifts when someone visits their home or they visit another home. I still have a few things she has given me.

We had such a perfect friendship, and I'm confident when I say perfect. We didn't have a care in the world, and we always had so much fun no matter what. All of that changed at the end of grade five. I changed schools, and Mami was moving back to Japan. Her father was here for work, and they had to move back because of his job. I was devastated. My best friend, in the whole world, she was moving away. But she promised that she would write me letters so we could keep in touch, and someday we would see each other again. One day, maybe a few months after, I received a call from her from Japan. I remember being in tears I was so excited! She gave me her address, and so we wrote letters back and forth for a couple years. Then we wrote each other emails for awhile. And then it stopped. I'm not sure why, it just stopped, or more so dissipated. I guess I was getting too caught up in junior high (cause we all know what goes on in junior high). I changed, and I'm sure Mami did too.

I would think about her from time to time, wondering where she was and what she was doing. Then one day, maybe a year ago or so, with the brilliant power of Facebook I decided to try and find her. Sure enough, I did! So I sent her a message, hoping that she would remember me. I had finally found my friend. The one that I had missed so much, we could finally talk again. So we caught up, reminiscing about our childhood. She has been studying in Tokyo, so it was rare that she would be on Facebook because of exams. But we would send messages to each other when we could. A couple of weeks ago, she sent me one saying that she was going on vacation to Morocco with her boyfriend, so she would talk to me soon.

Then, March 11th happened. The whole world watched as an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan. I was shocked. Even more so to find out that it was Mami's hometown, Sendai, that got hit the hardest. I was worried sick, I couldn't stop thinking about Mami and her family and friends. I immediately sent her a message on Facebook, hoping that she would reply when she could so I would know she's ok. A few days later, she posted a status in Japanese. I had to translate it, but she was telling everyone that she was fine, but she was concerned for the rest of the people. I was so relieved. I wasn't sure if she was home, or in Tokyo, or still on vacation, but I knew she was alive and ok and that was a relief.

Last night, she happened to be on Facebook chat. That was the first time we have talked in real-time since grade 6. I asked her how she was doing, and where she was. She said she was safe, but I found out some news that made me feel sick. She was at home, in Sendai, with her mother when everything happened. I have seen satellite photos of before and after the disaster, and almost nothing was left. Holy shit. I had no idea. I convinced myself that she was somewhere else in the world and that she was perfectly safe, but I was wrong. She was one of the very fortunate to have survived, along with her mother. But their home was most likely destroyed, and their hometown decimated. I feel so terrible for her, and I only hope he rest of her family is alive and well. But somehow I just knew she was ok, even in the face of danger, she was ok. I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to her. This is just another thing to be thankful for.

My thoughts are with Japan and it's people. Please donate to help them recover, its the least we can do.