Hey guys!
I hope everybody is enjoying their Saturday morning. :)
I am getting really pumped for this film! I really wanted to share my inspiration for this project with you guys.
Earlier this school year, in my AICE English Language class, I was given the assignment to write a narrative short story. Throughout this short story, I was asked to use a passionate and affectionate voice within my writing.
When we started discussing this project, I immediately thought of my short story and knew it would be a perfect basis for the plot of my film. My story, called "The Meeting", gave me a lot of inspiration while planning the plot of my film introduction. I thought it would be fun to share it with you guys! I hope you enjoy. :)
The Meeting
Eighteen months. It felt like an eternity since I felt his warm, gentle touch. I have never craved a human’s touch as much as I longed for his. It had been eighteen seemingly-endless months since Sam had been deployed on his first tour to Afghanistan.
I remember the day he left impeccably. I remember the way that his soft, delicate lips had kissed mine. I remember the way his eyes stared into mine before we had said our last goodbye, and how in that moment, everything around us stood still. He told me that everything was going to be okay. He told me I didn’t have to worry. I had faith that God would bring Sam back to me when the war was over and life would be normal again.
But, there was still a part of me that knew it could have possibly been the last time that I would get to stare into his beautiful hazel eyes, and feel his delicate touch. A part of me knew that Sam might not return home alive. And although I was well aware of these circumstances, nothing would prepare me for the meeting I would have with two military officials telling me that he was gone.
Located at the lower end of Arizona's Oak Creek Canyon, surrounded by nothing but colossal red buttes and monoliths, encompassed by the never-ending deserts of the Great Plains, lies the small town of Sedona, Arizona. Population: 8,120 people. This is where I grew up.
As a child, I attended Verde Valley Preparatory School, a private institution with only about 500 students. Everyone knew each other at Verde Valley. Classes were small and people were very friendly. Gossip spread like wildfire through the halls of the Valley. So, when Sam Reynolds first walked into my classroom on the first day of the 3rd grade, everybody couldn’t help but notice the new kid.
Sam wasn’t your typical 9 year-old boy . There was just something about him. At the time, I could not grasp exactly what the something was, that made me so fond of him. Sam and I instantly became best friends. We did anything and everything together. I never knew that he would end up meaning so much.
There was not much to do in this typical western American town. Sam and I spent every moment we possibly could together as kids. We would always be outdoors, going on adventures through the lush evergreen pine forests that surrounded the area. He became like a brother to me. Life seemed so much simpler back then.
As young teenagers, we would spend our summers camping in Oak Creek Canyon, exploring the vast river valleys, and hiking up to the very top of the canyon to experience the most unbelievable view of the sun setting over Sedona. Everything about this amazed me. The sky, painted with the unblemished combination of the softest shades of orange and pink, seemed to be inconceivable. Everything at that moment was perfect. Sam was perfect. At this very moment, time has stopped. Nothing else in the world mattered; just Sam. This was the moment that I realized something that would change my life forever: I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
Sam and I started dating in our freshmen year of high school, and from that point on, we fell madly in love with each other. From the start, I knew Sam was the man I wanted to marry and create a life with. We were your typical high school sweethearts. We didn’t want to waste a single moment. On the day that we graduated from Verde Valley, Sam proposed. We got married just 3 months later. I got pregnant on our honeymoon and were expecting our first baby daughter the following year.
Life was complete. I was complete. I had the man of my dreams and a beautiful baby daughter on the way. Sam had followed his dream of enlisting in the US Army and immediately began training at Fort Huachuca, the local military base about 45 minutes west of Sedona. Everything seemed to be going as planned and life was good. On June 5th, 1999, I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. We named our daughter Caroline Julianne Reynolds and Sam and I were the happiest we had ever been together. Our dream of starting a family finally become a reality, and we were beyond grateful. I was living the life every girl dreamed of. Everything was perfect.
September 11th, 2001, was the day that everything changed. Terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center in New York City, killing thousands of innocent lives and causing great physical and emotional damage to the country. President George W. Bush took immediate action and declared war on Afghanistan. On January 14th, 2002, Sam was deployed on his first tour to Afghanistan.
Life was no longer as perfect. I spent countless nights staying up and worrying about Sam. He had always dreamed of being a soldier since we were children and now he had finally gotten his chance. I knew I should have been happy for him. I knew fighting for our country meant a great deal to him and that as his wife, I should always be supportive of my husband, but a part of me just couldn’t help but worry about whether I would be able to see him again.
Eighteen months had passed. Caroline’s 4th birthday was coming up, and Sam was planning on coming home to surprise her. Just a few more days and I would be able to see the love of my life again. I would be able to feel his warm touch and his soft lips for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Just a few more days and everything would be perfect again.
That’s why when two day later, when I heard a peculiar knock on the front door, I had no idea what to expect. Could it be Sam? Could he have returned a couple days earlier than expected and wanted to surprise me and Caroline? I rushed to the door, hoping to see my husband standing on the other side.
Nothing would prepare me for the moment that I opened my front door to see Sergeant Major Roger Williams and Colonel Andrew Sanders standing at my doorstep. I knew exactly what was happening, but I didn’t want to believe it.
Roger was a Sam’s best friend, and we had been out on many occasions together, but this meeting was different. “Hello Sarah,” Roger said. It’s amazing how much you can tell about a person when they say something as simple as a “hello”. I’ve heard this same line from Roger a great deal of times, but this time, I could tell that he was on the verge tears.
I immediately fell to my knees. My heart sank to my stomach. At that very moment, my world shattered into a million pieces.
“His truck was hit by a sudden airstrike while they were commuting between bases. By the time we got to them, it was already too late. He was gone. We did everything we could,” Roger’s voice quivered, but I could barely keep track of what he was saying. I was completely and utterly lost.
“He loved you and Sarah very much,” Roger continued, but I couldn’t think straight at the moment. I couldn’t think at all. All I could think about was the fact that Sam, my best friend, my soul mate, and the father of my child, was no longer living on this earth. How would I tell Caroline that her father would not be coming home for her birthday? How would I live without Sam?
I was nowhere near prepared for the meeting that took place between myself and Roger that afternoon. Now that Sam was gone, everything would be different. For starters, I would have to learn how to live a life without Sam. This would be the most difficult obstacle I have ever had to overcome. I would have to learn how to be both a mother and a father figure to Caroline as a single mother. I would have to learn a new a way of life, a way of life that didn’t involve Sam, and still try to be happy for Caroline. This was the meeting that would change my life forever.
