#jamesstaake

-PART ONE- Max wanted me to make him a paper airplane... then he wanted a paper tank... and what do you know...Daddy just happens to know how to do that! While at the beach one day about 15 years ago, I met a dude that saw me writing... he struck up a conversation about paper... how some people look past its simplicity and see it as a "one dimensional" medium! As I began to wonder what he was trying to convey to me... he asked me for 1 piece of paper, he then began to fold it up and undo some folds and redo other folds... then boom, it was a paper tank.... He said to me.... Paper is only one dimensional to a person with a one dimensional mind, but for those of us with vision... paper is a medium that allows your idea's to become a bullet proof monument of your creative ability... like a Tank! -PART TWO- So there I was, as fast as he came and sat next to me, he walked away. As he walked away he turned, lowered his sunglasses and winked at me, as if to say "see you around". I returned to write there many times over the next several years, and often he would walk by and give me that same wink. Every now and then, he would sit down and ask me what I was writing about. Each time he sat down, we would talk, but every time I tried to get his name, he would laugh, slowly look away towards the ocean and say "I like what you're doing, keep it up" and then he would pat me on my back, stand up, and as he walked away, he would turn, wink the same way every time. After a while I learned not to ask his name, so I started to call him "Sam". Sam and I talked about almost everything over those few years... always dropping little bits of wisdom on me. I can't tell you how many 1 liners Sam had, Some would make you laugh, while others would literally make your head explode... the old dude was DEEP!!! This old man taught me so much, and I ended up writing a self motivational system that I still use today, utilizing all his bitz of wisdom as my guide. I kept that project to myself until it was done. Then, after it was all finished I printed it out and took a fresh copy to this very special writing place to share with Sam... As I waited for him to walk by, I wrote... and wrote... aaannnddd wrote. No Sam that day... I came back several times over about 3 months... Sam must have started walking a new route, perhaps found a new young writer to inspire, but I kept going back, each time with a freshly printed copy of the work that he inspired. But every time... still no Sam. One day I was sitting there, waiting for the sunset with nothing to write, just with a freshly printed copy of that same something I wanted so deeply to share with Sam. As I sat there by myself, as I always did unless Sam was sitting with me, an older lady swiftly walked up to me, and sat down. She said "So you must be James"... I Knew... all of the sudden I knew exactly who she was, and more importantly what she came to tell me. It was Sam's wife. She wanted to come share with me that her husband had a little message for me. After Sam came home from talking with me, he would talk with his wife about our conversation, apparently I had had grown on Sam just as deeply as he had grown on me. She spoke about my talks with Sam with both laughter and tears and even tho I had only known this old lady a few moments, we sat on that bench and hugged for what seems like a good five or more minutes without speaking a single word, we just cried together! THEN I was about to ask.... and I laughed... and thought I should be very careful about the timing of this question... I paused.... I thought again... and went for it... I said... " Dare I ask your name"... She laughed, took a deep breath, patted me on the back and said "He knew you would ask me that"... she stood up, walked away.. and about 15 feet away, she turned and said... "I like what you're doing, keep it up"... and she winked then walked off the same way Sam had always done! I never got their names! I only know that Sam wanted to make sure that I knew he "liked what I was doing", and that I should "Keep it up". Judging by their clothes, their speech and that they lived so close to the water, I think Sam was a writer too. I think he knew exactly what he could give to me to help me. I think he wanted to give me lessons that would serve me throughout my life, both in writing and in actual life itself! I asked Sam once how he always understood everything. His answer became my personal motto.... He said... "James, I don't need to understand, to be understanding". Then he gave me a pat on the back, said "I like what you're doing, keep it up" and walk off... That was the last time I ever saw Sam! "You don't have to understand, to be understanding" -Unknown A.K.A "Sam"