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Kate inspired me. She wrote the following about herself, and presented it in front of a large group of people. I was so impressed by her wisdom at the young age of eighteen that I asked if she would meet me for a portrait and allow me to share what she’d written here. Thank you, Kate.

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"Why are you, you? Why am I me? How can you explain something that you can’t even understand yourself? Why am I me? Well many reasons I suppose. I’m me for all the little things and all the big things. I’m me for all the mistakes and broken promises as well as for all my accomplishments and all my triumphs. In short, I am me because that is the only person I know how to be. Some days I have higher wishes and purer feelings but I am always, Kate; the writer, the reader, the lover, and the fighter.

I am predictable in my own unpredictability. I am a thinker of common thoughts. I like storms. They let me know the even the sky screams sometimes too. Sometimes, I talk so fast words fly out of my mouth and I can’t seem to speak as fast as my thoughts are streaming. Other times I go through phases where I just don’t feel like talking to anyone for a few days and it’s not because I am mad or depressed, no I just don’t want to speak out loud. I have learned that hearts are breakable and that when you heal; you’re never quite what you were before. And maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. I know that until you get comfortable with being alone with yourself, you’ll never know if you’re choosing someone out of love or loneliness.

I have lost all faith before and on the contrary I’ve been so close to toughing my spirit of life, that it makes me want to cry. I question everything, but I am slowly realizing sometimes it pays off to just have a little faith. I am a paradox within my own self. I am faithful and yet detached. I am committed and yet relaxed, sociable but also a loner. I love no one but yet, everyone. I am gentle and yet I am tough. I am passionate but can also be platonic.

The art of living; is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment and to meditate and keep meditating until you’ve learned to let go of everything you fear to lose. I am human, real, raw and full of the light that emanates from someone who is living so deeply connected to their own truth that nothing else needs to be orchestrated. I try to be who I am and most of the time it’s happy, inspiring and carefree, but sometimes its pain and sometimes its sorrow.

What comes after we have lived our lives? Will I be reborn again as someone completely new and innocent? Who knows really? And I guess I’m okay with not knowing for, I am still living this life, my life. I have learned to not let constant and irrational fears destroy my confidence and that my scars are the souvenirs I will never lose.

I can’t sit back and spend my life wondering why things don’t always work out the way I want them too. Sometimes, I feel like a shaking leaf blown around by the wind. But the wind is powerful and strong, and it blows with intention and purpose. So, I breathe in the fresh, crisp air and watch with glittering eyes the starry sky above me and realize the sun will rise tomorrow. I remind my self of what I am grateful for and why I was placed on this earth. I am strong, I am whole, and I am not alone.

As I graduate from high school and take my steps out into the real world, I am ready and equipped with my knowledge, wisdom and inner strength. Somewhere along this journey we call life, I found and connected with my “spirit of life”. She comes to me in my time of need and guides me to my bliss and happiness. She speaks to me words of wisdom and radiates compassion. She is my bright blessed day and my dark sacred night. She is the soft grass that my feet stand upon and the strong and sturdy trees that grant me shade.

She is my tears, my smiles and my grimaces. She gives life the shape of justice, while her wild and tangled roots hold me close and her wings set me free. She is the unknown, which makes me believe in her even more. She is my spirit, my god, my higher power.