My love affair with Thailand

It started in January of 2003.  One of my best friends, Kelly, was traveling to Thailand with a friend, and as their trip neared the friend had to cancel.  So, Kelly was set to go by herself, which she would have been perfectly content with.  She is the type of person that takes the bull by the horns, makes friends with anyone, and loves traveling and photography above all else. We definitely had that last one in common.  So, when she asked if I wanted to join I jumped on it!  I was in my second year of grad school, and just happened to have the month of January off.  Perfect timing!  

I should digress a bit and tell you how Kelly and I met.  My junior year of college I studied abroad on a trip called Semester at Sea.  We traveled around the world on a boat in 100 days leaving from the Bahamas, stopping at 9 countries along the way and docking on the other side in Seattle.  Our first country we stopped at was Venezuela.  I knew no one on my side trip, and decided one night I would wander down to the bar where I saw a couple of other students gathering.  I'm not really the shy type, but I will admit I was a bit hesitant...I kept thinking, "Hi, my name is Sara.  Will you be my friends?"  There ended up being a bunch of boys and myself. So, I had a seat and started to chat.  A few moments later, another girl came in basically the same way I had, and was thinking "Hi. My name is Kelly.  Will you be my friends?"  It just so happened she was also a photographer, liked to laugh and have fun, and the rest is history.  I owe a lot to that first night in Venezuela.  Many of those at that table became lasting friends throughout the entire journey.  And, Kelly and I became attached at the hip.  We were both selected to be in the photography program, and our rooms just happened to be next to each other on the ship.  I would play loud/bad music, specifically a song called Sha-la-la-la-la, through the wall, and she would pound and pound to get me to turn it off.  On that boat we were best friends, sisters, each others conscience, classmates, and traveling companions.  

So, as we made our way to Thailand, it brought back such good memories, and also gave us an opportunity to build many more.  I was in San Francisco at the time, and Kelly was in Chicago where we had lived together before I left for school.  So, we met in Tokyo, headed to Bangkok, stayed up all night and caught the 6 am flight to an island called Koh Phangan.  We had great plans of traveling all around Thailand during our 11 day stay, but we settled into a quiet town called Chaloklum and never left.  It was the most magical place, and a place that is so hard to explain to others.  We spent the days in the sun, and the evenings making new friends and listening to others traveling adventures.  

That trip is one of my most important memories.  In June of that same year, Kelly was killed in the Chicago porch collapse.  It was/is one of the most frustrating points in my life.  She lived with such passion, and had an incredible intensity about her when it came to anything she cared about.  She was a real spitfire, and I was/am so honored to have called her my best friend and soulmate at times.  She was one of my biggest supporters when it came to my photography, and I can still see her talking wildly wth her hands as she tried to explain what a photograph meant to her.  She gave me so many things in life...support, laughter, the travel bug, friendship, a deeper meaning, an incredible 2 years in Chicago, love, and she gave me Thailand...

I'd like the memory of me

to be a happy one.

I'd like to leave an afterglow

of smiles when life is done.

I'd like to leave an echo

whispering softly down the ways,

of happy times and laughing

times and bright and sunny days.

I'd like the tears of those who

grieve, to dry before the sun

Of happy memories that I leave

when life is done.

I still talk to her from time to time, and can hear her making fun of me, or cursing at me depending what may be going on.  I have wanted to go back to Thailand for so long, it just never seemed like the right time.  It was important for me to share such a special place with Greg, and even more important to me that he said he would love to go back!