Izzy Barnes

Wild is my favorite word. It encompasses a senseless, lawless freedom that I craved long before I could even breathe. Wild is the waves of the ocean, wild is the stars scattered across an endless night sky. Wild is the primal nature that grows within every human. Wild is insatiable, wild is untamable. Wild is, and will forever be, the greatest gift the world has ever seen.

And yet some of us don’t embrace it. We ignore the hunger in our souls that begs us to be different than anyone else. We step into the mold and we conform to a society that has no interest in embracing who we are. We become the things we've seen, instead of the things we're meant to be. Some of us are as basic as basic gets. But lucky for The Valley, “some of us” isn’t Izzy.

I feel like the ways and the rules of the world don't work for her. I don't think she likes them, so she decided to make her own. No matter how hard anyone tries to convince her differently, she shall do what she wants, when she wants, exactly how she wants to do it and none of us can stop her, but we shouldn't even be trying to.

Izzy is The Valley's wonder; she gives The Valley its beauty and makes The Valley even more of a place that people want to discover. When I met Izzy, I had an instant feeling that it wouldn't be the last I'd see of her, and it wasn't, still hasn't been. She continuously pops up in my life, making me laugh and becoming one of my most unforgettable friends.

Within the first five minutes of one of our first conversations, I had this overwhelming feeling that I could trust her completely. Most of the time it takes me awhile to come to a conclusion about a person, whether or not I want them around or whether or not I could trust them. It wasn't that way at all with Izzy; I trusted her and loved her instantly, like I was meant to, like I'd be crazy for doing anything different.

I already knew exactly what it meant to be wild, to let go of the things most people hold dear and just take an instant to breathe. I knew my wild, but I never loved it. I understood it, but I never appreciated it. That is, until I met Izzy. She made me want to believe that "young hearts" were a thing that could last forever. She is the reason why I learned to love the wild that consumed even the deepest parts of my soul. She made me believe that maybe, any wonder could find its place in time and never cease to exist.

Sometimes I think The Valley moves too fast, and it ends up leaving behind the most important things, the things that make us human and keep us from wandering off into a robotic pattern that quiets even the wildest of souls.

In our rush to find our place, we end up looking too far ahead, and we forget to live in the moment while it stares us in the face. When I met Izzy, somehow she became that moment, that wrinkle in time that alters everything you've ever known and rewrites every story you've ever told. She became the wonder within my beginning and my end. She took my world and made it beautiful. If I ever had a thing to be grateful for, it would be her.

She has always been what The Valley is meant to be. She is the thing that sets us free.