"N... has done a Ted talk," my former neighbor said.

"Wow!" I looked it up on youtube and there she was -- this beautiful, articulate young woman.

I first met her when her baby teeth had just fallen out. Her family had just moved onto my flat floor.

Many a night, after dinner, she would appear. We would watch The Weakest Link together, voting along with the contestants. I was always amazed about the number of answers she had which the contestants didn't know.

More than once she gave her friends a tour of my apartment, pointing out my penguin collection and my prism.

A special memory will be of one Sunday morning. I was still in bed when the door bell rang. Two little girls stood there. When the tour stopped at the prism we began shooting rainbows at each other.

Over the years, I watched her develop.

We made cookies and brownies. She cared her first pumpkin with me, and when we couldn't decide between a happy or sad face, she suggested doing a two-face pumpkin.

She acted in little theatre, directed and starred in school productions, one of which went to Jordan.

She studied Indian dance and had an hour-long recital that was as close to perfect as possible.

She spoke to the UN about youth.

In school, her grades were good. One of her projects included creating an international gender game that reflected the differences of nationality.

And there was the time she went to Tanzania to help build a school.

Now she is a medical student in Scotland. 

Watch out world.