ROOM 301, years later

It’s been so many years since I climbed the narrow stairs of that white concrete building and sat on its small verandas overlooking the basketball court.

It’s been years since that day I met the five other girls of room 301. They were girls who were nothing like the friends I had back home, and also didn’t seem at all like me.

But for some reason, there was something that brought us together. There was something in that year in that corner room on the third floor of that white concrete building.

There was something that, I discovered, wasn’t in every other room where girls would fight and not speak, and where things would go missing in the night.

Until today, when we’re at different stages in life, I wonder what that something was.

Until today, when we sit at the same table and share food and laughter and stories, I feel lucky to have them.

Until today, when I remember to be thankful for the good people in my life, I think of those five other girls in room 301 and how, even though we were six different girls from six different backgrounds – six different colors – we are still moving through life together, like the colors of a rainbow. 🌈