It was shortly after the 4th of July festivities had ended that our representative came to our door. 

My mom was making pancakes. I was cutting up strawberries that we'd picked from the garden. Who knows where Dad and Pat were. 

Mom and I heard a knock at the door. We have a doorbell, but it's at a weird spot, so most people that don't come to our house often never see it. Mom went to get the door while I took care of the pancakes. 

From the kitchen I could hear a friendly American voice say, "Hello, my name is Julia Mayfield. I'm here for Melissa?"

My heart dropped into my feet. Oh my god, is that-?!

"Yes, she is. Can I ask, are you from...?"

"Yes, I'm the representative from SM Entertainment. I was told that you were expecting me."

"Yes, we were. Come in. We were just making breakfast."

"Really? It's almost noon."

"Alright, it's brunch."

When she came into the room I was able to get a good look at her. Shock of my life.

She was a copper-haired, blue-eyed, lightly tanned, white American. This was the SM Entertainment representative? 

She laughed, then saw me flipping the pancakes. "Oh, hello, are you Melissa?"

"Um... yeah. I can honestly say that you aren't... who I was expecting."

She laughed. "I don't actually work for SM. They contracted our company to handle the process of moving the trainees to Korea, so it would be more comfortable for them."

Ooooohhhhh... That makes sense. 

I went back to my strawberries and held one out to her. "Strawberry?"

"Oh, thank you."

"Do you want some breakfast?"

"...alright, then. We'll talk about your transfer when you're done eating." She smiled encouragingly. I liked this Julia.

When we had cleared the breakfast dishes away, Julia sat down at the dining room table with my parents and I and pulled out a large manila folder. 

"Alright, so I'm sure you've been curious about the details ever since you got the call. Are you excited to go to Korea, Melissa?"

"Extremely!"

"Well, then. Here is your departure document. As you can see here, we'll be giving you about a month to get everything ready to leave. During that time, I'll be helping you with official business, such as getting your passport, packing, and arranging things with SM. You'll be leaving on August twentieth. Your birthday is the fifteenth, right Melissa?"

I nodded. 

My dad piped up "I was worried about that. Technically she's not allowed to live away from us without a chaperone until she's seventeen..."

"You're sixteen now, correct, Melissa?"

"Yeah."

"So then by your departure date, that shouldn't be a problem. I'll have the documents for you to sign to legally allow her to live away from you long before that. Are there any other concerns you have?"

"I want her to continue her schooling," Mom replied firmly.

"We've already taken care of that. SM will be in charge of helping you decide where to go to school, and all of the transfer paperwork. It'll also make sure you have a proper Korean language and culture class, to make it easier to live there. It's all in your contract."

"Contract?" I asked.

"Just a one-year contract. To say that you're working for SM. I'll let you keep this copy to read over until next time I come to visit."

She pulled out a small packet of paper and handed it to me. "There are two copies there. One's in English, the other's in Korean, as you can see."

"Oh..."

True to her word, Julia came to visit us about once a week. Between July and August, I got my passport, signed about a million papers (Not before carefully reading them at least twice), told all of my maternal family members about what was going on, and began to pack. 

My friends and family decided to turn my seventeenth birthday party into a sending-away party. My sister (it being her idea) and Tessa came early to help clean, cook, and set up. By noon, people were streaming in. First Julia, then Eliz, then Ali, and then aunts, uncles, cousins, second-cousins, my grandma, more friends, my sister's friends, our neighbors... My aunt from Oklahoma had even come up to be a part of it. It was bigger than our Independence Day party!

And EVERYONE brought presents. By the time I came back from swimming in our pond with my friends, an entire table had been stacked to overflowing with the things. 

We ate, we talked. There was a lot of encouragement from Jackie's friends. I was starting to feel just a bit heartsick. 

Finally, I was forced to stop eating and open presents. From my paternal grandma, a cookbook with all of the family recipes. From my parents, a gigantic luggage trunk for me to fit everything in. From my sister, a complete set of chopsticks and a copy of the Super Show 4 DVDs (One being useful, the other just because I'd wanted it for a long time). Tessa gave me a Korean-English dictionary and a leaf-shaped necklace that folded out to make a knife, which I had to remind her that I probably couldn't take on the plane, so she said she'd mail it to me as soon as I got settled. James gave me a promise that he'd take me to Koreana before I had to leave, so I could try some Korean dishes. 

They went on for awhile like that. All kinds of useful things. Food preparation stuff, new clothes, a new makeup set, money... The one that touched me the most, though, was the camera from my friends. It was a brand new digital camera, probably over two hundred dollars. But, between the four of them, they'd paid for it, because they wanted to make sure that I'd be able to send them pictures. 

When finally the table was cleared of all presents, I was about to go back to my food when my dad came out of the house with three boxes in his arms. 

"Don't forget about these. They're from your mom's family."

I was touched. I hadn't expected them to get me any presents. I pulled the first box towards me, a long, narrow box. It was labeled "From Aunty Jackie and the Hawaii Family." I pulled open the wrapping paper and picked up the card resting just on top of the tissue paper, hiding what was underneath. I read it aloud.

"'Melissa, we are all so proud that you're doing what will make you happy. We wish you the best of luck and hope that you can keep in touch as much as possible. we want to know how you're doing, and what you're learning. You've always been a smart wahine-' I stopped, explaining to my Wisconsin friends and family that 'wahine' was 'girl' in Hawaiian, then continued, "You've always been a smart wahine, so we're sure that you'll do well, wherever you are. Your grandpa said that he was going to give you one of these, but your aunt Kimberly said that she'd wanted it, so I'm sending you one of mine. I hope you can learn to play it as a musician and remember that no matter where you are, you are Hawaiian. Best of luck, Aunty Jackie."

I set the card down and pulled the tissue paper apart. Marvelling, I pulled out a shiny, dark ukulele. My family "wow"ed at it, and I plucked one of the strings. I now had an ukulele? Well, I guess that's one way to be a musician.

I set it gently aside, then moved on to a single envelope, this one from my Grandpa Henry. 

Inside it was a check for five hundred dollars. The card read "For living expenses. If things ever get hard, just ask me or your Aunty Jackie. We'll take care of you. -Grandpa"

Finally, I pulled a large, beautifully wrapped box towards me. I didn't even have to look at the label. Wrapped so perfectly, it could only have been from my Grandma in California. After carefully unwrapping the paper so that I wouldn't ruin it, I opened the box. And pulled out a sheer, black,  new laptop computer. Woah... let's not even discuss how much this must have cost. I mean, my maternal family was generally well-off, but, really?

I almost cried. "Grandma says that she's giving me this on the grounds that I absolutely do not lose contact. Ever. And once I become incredibly rich, I am to pay her back." 

My family laughed. My sister set the computer back into the box and started to set up the presents on the table so that they could be displayed and safe at the same time, especially the camera, the ukulele, and the computer. 

Seeing everyone watching me, I said, "So... who wants cake?"

My aunt Tammy, from Oklahoma, was a totally awesome cake-maker. It was a cake in the shape of a bird in flight that read "Good luck in Korea, Mel!" I was almost afraid to eat it. After the birthday song, though, with about fifty people singing extremely off-key as loud as they could, we cut it, and I discovered that the cake was chocolate with chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough, so any reluctance to eat it disappeared, along with the cake itself.

As the guests slowly left, one by one, there were a lot of tearful goodbyes. Both my friends and my sister's declared that they'd be back to see me off at the airport on the twentieth. I promised my family members that I would be okay and that I would keep in touch.

Finally, my parents, siblings, and Julia were the only ones left. As I said goodbye to Eliz and watched her car disappear into her driveway, Julia turned to me and asked, "Are you sad?'

"I wouldn't say I'm sad, exactly. I don't regret anything. It's just... I'm saying goodbye to everyone I've ever known. It feels a little... empty. I mean, I'll still talk to them through e-mails, phone conversations, and video conferencing, thanks to grandma sending me the laptop, but... It's just not the same as being here and being with them. Everything's going to be different from how I've lived for the past seventeen years."

"Don't worry, you'll meet new people, make new friends. Besides, you'll be too busy learning and training to feel lonely," Julia encouraged.

"Yeah. Training."

"And then your dreams will come true! You'll get to meet all of the members of Super Junior! Maybe you can write a song for them!"

I winced. "That's not the reason I'm going, Julia.."

"Oh, whatever. I've been in your room, I've seen the fanarts. Left-to-right in order of favoritism, Sungmin to Kibum if you're not counting SuJu-M's members, Sungmin to Zhou Mi if you are. Now tell me you're not a fangirl."

"Okay, I am. But don't tell SM that."

"My lips are sealed."

Finally the day came to leave. Unlike when I was headed off to California for a week, there were about fifteen people with me in the airport. I hugged each one of them, saying goodbye as the time to board my plane came. Much of what they said was the same as when I had gone to my grandma's, but there was more force to it, now that the distance would be semi-permanent. My parents reminded me that if I was ever uncomfortable, I was to come back immediately. Eliz and Ali promised that I could still be in the Neighborhood Girls, even though I lived in Korea. Emily and Jacklyn renewed their vow that while I was in Seoul, they would work even harder to learn to speak Korean. And all of them enforced that if I did not send pictures at least twice a week, they would slit my throat. Comforting.

Julia waited patiently all the while, not interrupting. She'd be coming with me on the plane to Korea, but would be leaving as soon as I got to my dorm. 

After the call to board the plane, I started to head towards the terminal, then turned to look back at them, one last time, thinking, "Goodbye, everyone I've ever known."