A Girl named Sam

She sits underneath a tree unafraid of the world. The wind brushes along her face, and instead of being afraid that this gust might sweep her off and take her away, she welcomes the slight breeze in by letting it whisper in her ears. The wind has so many secrets. It murmurs by you and moves the leaves with it. It caresses your hair and tickles your skin like it’s playing a game. The wind knows no limits; it goes where it pleases and moves around anything in its way; it doesn’t care what others think of it. It is simply being. It’s unafraid of change or difference, it just floats on by. When the wind is angry, it doesn’t hold back, it isn’t afraid of anything, and it has no predators. The wind is free, and that’s what she longs to be. 

    Sam. That’s her name. She lives in a town that is too ordinary for how extraordinary she is. She is 16 years old, but she has the maturity level of a woman at the end of her life. She longs to be free. Sam experiences a feeling most everyone can relate to. She experiences loneliness. Her life story isn’t necessarily important, she’s lived in the same town all her life, she has no friends, and she lives with her mother in an apartment above a hair salon. Despite all the ordinary around her, she has managed to become exceptional. She doesn’t see how special she is, in fact, no one sees it, but it is there. It’s there in the way she questions the people around her, the way she stands up for herself, and others. It rubs off from the books that she reads, the movies she watches, and the music she listens to. Sam is the type of girl to watch the sun set over the mountains and stare at the blank sky till the stars come up. She has learned through her loneliness to look for the silver linings that fall on that skyline. 

    Although Sam enjoys her loneliness in many ways, there are so many things that Sam wishes she could do. Not alone. Today, Sam watches over everyone around her, she is sitting under a tree with a book in her hand. Another side effect of loneliness is restlessness. Oftentimes the normal things that entertain you in your life don’t provide you with your usual contentment. So Sam watches a group of teenagers like her, being teenagers. They are getting in a tacky red Subaru with scratches all over it, showing the world the memories of good times once had. They laugh together and tease each other. To Sam, it reminds her of a memory that she never had, like something out of a movie that she’s never seen. The car drives away, and the memory lingers with Sam as she gets up and walks away. 

    This is just like every other day. The same events occurring over and over. These days hold onto her like this. They cling to her like a breeze for a brief moment, then they let go and find another place or person to occupy. The blandness of the day stays on her tastebuds, unwilling to let her taste any different flavors. For a girl like Sam, life is simple, dull, and boring. For Sam, life is always like this, she wishes and hopes that the wind might take her away, somewhere else, but she is scared of the feeling. Growth is steady, slow-paced, and predictable. As Sam walks home, she sees her neighbors and lets the wind float her smile onto their faces. This unspoken friendliness is the extent of her social interactions for the day.

    When Sam gets home, she says hello to her mother, and they talk for a while. Poor Sam occupies her mind with dreams of going somewhere, but for now, there is nowhere to go. No friends to laugh with, only that stubborn taste of blandness. She doesn’t know when the wind will take her away, and she doesn’t even know if she’s ready to be taken away, but she is a daydreamer that lets her mind wander when she talks. Her voice slips along. See Sam, in her extraordinary ordinariness, is alone, there is no telling when people will see the beauty of her mind, or when she will find out who she is, but until that time comes, she lets the world pass her by, sitting on a cloud of her dreams, waiting for them to come true. She has patience and believes that the wind will move her to where she belongs. 

    On this very day, Sam sits at her kitchen table and thinks of the fairy tales that she reads in her books and watches in her movies. This is just what life is like for a lonely remarkable 16-year-old girl. Although it may be uneventful, there isn’t much more to it. It’s full of dreams and what-ifs. Full of imaginations of what could happen. Real-life is less exciting than a book or a song that takes you to other places. It’s filled with sadness, and loneliness and a constant bland taste, except for when you look at the silver linings on the skyline like Sam. Then, life isn’t so lonely.