Isaac Plata

I think I love this one a little too much.

Isaac was one of the first people to ask for a chapter, but it took a lot for me to be able to put everything I love about him into the proper words. So, here it is.

Isaac is by far one of the funniest people I've ever met. Sometimes I feel like he's not even trying. He just opens his mouth and says things that brings rooms full of people to tears. He is constantly making me laugh. My best days have seen better days when he's around.

Isaac, I told you once that I was a train-wreck and you immediately said I was a blessing. I tried to convince you I wasn't worth your time and you weren't having it. I tried to push you away, but you didn't move. All my attempts to get you to see the girl that people left behind failed miserably. I wanted to be dramatic and unpredictable so you'd follow the crowd and walk away, but instead, somehow, to you, I became the girl that lit up a room just by laughing.

Lately, I keep finding people in my life that I never knew I needed, but the minute they walk in, all I've wanted is for them to stay. That's how I feel about you. You're irreplaceable. Crazy-as-all-hell but amazing in the same light. It shouldn't make sense, you shouldn't make sense—but it does and you do as well.

Everything about you screams "one of a kind." Everyone boasts about their power to fight through the pressure and expectations this world pushes at them. They take pride in how much they have fought to be themselves. It wasn't a fight for you, not for a second. You outgrew the mold before the mold existed. And I think that's why you stagger me, you have never once in your life, struggled to be yourself. Even when you thought you were struggling, you remain authentic within the struggle.

You are The Valley's greatest gift to the world. I have an infinite amount of faith in you. I have all the confidence in the world that you are going to do incredible things with your life. You’ll move people and change things and ideas that no one else has the courage to question. You’ll go far and wide and inspire everyone around you. And at first, you’ll do so just by making them smile.

You can move mountains. And as you go through life, I need you to always remember that.

Before you, I wasn’t completely sure what it meant to be valued. And then one day, I was driving home from class, and all of a sudden there’s this car flying up next to me and a hand waving wildly out of the window. I looked over and there you were. You told me that you missed two exits, and almost ran out of gas, just because you saw my car driving down the interstate. There are thousands of vehicles like mine, and yet somehow in your soul you knew it was me. I still don’t know why you did it, but to this day it makes me smile.

You ignored the world around you, because you valued me. Seeing me, talking to me, being around me, meant something to you.

You chased me down, for reasons I’m still not sure about. You did the wildest things, and you did them specifically for me. With you, there’s no room for questions. We don’t have to make pointless conversation about things we don’t understand. Everything is real, everything is authentic.

You are incredible, from all angles and every aspect. And I'd thank you for being around, but I just don’t think it’d be good enough.