Seorin Kim
March 18, 1980 - July 29, 2024
Herein lies the story of three lives — one a dancer in the rain and lover of music, and two beautiful others who did not have the opportunity to define themselves.
Seorin was a dreamer, she loved Disney musicals and would, every time, laugh and cry with their triumphs and setbacks as we ate red apple jelly bellies for dinner. She loved her bunnies and composed the perfect trills to capture their movements in a way that words and even videos alone truly could not (You can watch one here). Music was her escape, but there was structure and discipline to her artistic expression, and even her hobbies were studied and executed with diligence and deliberation.
To say she was highly organized is an understatement -- her obsessive need to label, date, and catalogue mass purchases from frequent Costco trips made good fodder for her close friends and family, a trait which ultimately proved indispensable outside the home. In her professional life, she was a forensic accountant for the FBI, where her meticulous attention to detail was a (prized!) feature, not a flaw. She aspired to attain every professional distinction that could further her work, and her business card had more commas than those of highly decorated scholars. She was a continuous learner, a constant student. Born as the first child to immigrant parents who had survived a devastating civil war, she was torn between her magical inclinations and the practical ambitions expected of first-generation Koreans.
It's so difficult to properly capture the life, accomplishments, and curtailed ambitions of my sister -- whose life was so suddenly and unexpectedly cut short -- but for her children, it's outright impossible. Bear and Lesley never had the opportunity to become their own complex creatures, remaining forever infants. There is no way to meaningfully write about two young souls who spent only 9 and 83 days, respectively, above ground.
Thus, Seorin is survived only by her parents and younger sister. Rest in peace -- dear Seorin, Lesley, and Bear -- until we see you again. We love you.