Category: Lisa Ann Sandell

Lisa Ann Sandell

I do not tell her about how much I look forward to going to the Wright barn. How those couple of hours in his studio feel like an escape, a refuge. Nor do I tell Rachel that I think Damian has the most beautiful hands I’ve ever seen, that he walks like a cat, that he has the clearest eyes, which seem able to see absolutely everything about me. That he seems to be the loneliest person I’ve ever met, and it breaks my heart. All of these things feel private. Precious. And I don’t want to share them with Rachel. Not yet, anyway.

Lisa Ann Sandell

They say no land remains to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me. I want to do things– I want to walk the rain-soaked streets of London, and drink mint tea in Casablanca. I want to wander the wastelands of the Gobi desert and see a yak. I think my life’s ambition is to see a yak. I want to bargain for trinkets in an Arab market in some distant, dusty land. There’s so much. But, most of all, I want to do things that will mean something.

Lisa Ann Sandell

I wish I could say we all lived happily ever after. I can’t. But I can say we lived. Our love for Nate lives, and he’s left us this piece of himself in his art; it was his gift to us. We know him through his art, and I can take comfort in that. I guess the thing about high school is, it’s the moment when you start to cross from a being a kid to being an adult, and this journey to know yourself begins. Nate’s journey ended to early, and I thought I had to run away to some far-off land to start mine. But, for now, it seems to me that I have enough to explore right here. There’s a whole continent to discover in myself, and I know that it’s love – love for my parents, my friends, my brother, and my art – that will guide me. Love will be my map.