I was delighted to hear from an old friend on WeChat last week. We went to elementary and middle school together for seven years. After that, she pursued a career in music at full speed, while I followed the conventional path of further education and then a job. Since graduating from college, we’ve met only a handful of times—literally, I could count them on one hand. I was studying in Chicago when she came to perform at a music festival; I was working in Los Angeles when she came through with her orchestra.