The Best Christmas Gifts

There is no coincidence in life. No relationship is random. Every encounter is precious and meant to be.

Photo by Sean Ferigan on Unsplash

Please feel free to click the ❤️ or 🔄 button so more people will read it. Thank you!

At a recent holiday gathering, someone asked me what the best Christmas gift I had ever received were. It was a question that got me thinking. I appreciate all the gifts I have ever received. After all, every gift came from a thoughtful and loving person. Still, I cannot deny that some gifts probably meant more to me than others.

A Plane Ticket

I met Karyn when she was an exchange student at my college in China. She and I hit off immediately. Her laughter and humor are infectious. She and another exchange student, Melissa, were the first and the only two Americans who visited my crammed dormitory—a shoe-sized room filled with three bunk beds for six girls.

A year after we met, I came to America to pursue a master's degree in economics. The first year of being alone in a foreign country was challenging for many reasons: learning a different language, culture, and customs a…