She had brought back gifts for all of us, and that night we all put on the bracelets that she had brought, that she said to keep on. Mine has been on my wrist for a little over a year now, only coming off once for about half a minute so that I could show my mom how the closure on it worked.
It seemed important the night when Jill brought it, like she was forging us into some kind of sisterhood. I don't think I knew how important it was, how for the next year, every time I looked at my wrist I would see the slender red cord and the jade beads. How every time I saw it I would think of her, of all of the people I had lived with in China, of Xiamen and Gulangyu and of hotpot and Guizhou, of trains and airplanes and taxis. Of chaotic crowds and characters everywhere that I couldn't read and conversations that I couldn't understand much of.
602 sisterhood!
Sometimes I wonder if I would have been here this year without that bracelet. When I left China last December I had no clue that I'd be coming back so soon. But I really couldn't get it out of my mind, because I was still tied to someone here, the Chinese roommate who had adopted me and called me jiejie. Older sister.
It amazes me how the Father works and how my life is shaped by such things that seem so inconsequential at the time.
The bracelet is still on my wrist, a constant reminder of my love for this country and for its people, and especially of Jill. Please remember her; I am really looking forward to the winter holiday, when I should have time to travel back down south and actually get to see her.
This lovely, crazy girl has started her freshman year of university.
She still makes me laugh.
She sends me messages in Min Nan Yu, which isn't even a written language.
I think it's a ploy to make sure I message her back to find out what she's saying to me!
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