The summer after tenth grade, a bunch of friends and I roadtripped down to the states to go to EFY, a gigantic youth conference sponsored by our church. I didn't really make friends with a lot of the people that were in my group. A lot of them were super loud and outgoing and had that obnoxious "Oh hey, look at me, I'm rad!" personality. But there was this one girl that I remember better than the rest. Her name was Chesea. 

About halfway through the week, I noticed something odd about Chesea, and I asked her about it during lunch.

"Chesea?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you always have a ribbon in your hair?"

Legit. This girl, whether her hair be down, curly, or up in a ponytail, ALWAYS tied a ribbon in it. And not like, the kind on clips. She took an actual piece of ribbon, and tied it in a bow in her hair. And the ribbon always matched her outfit, so on any given day she might have had like three different bows in three different colours going on. Well that girl, bless her heart, smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen and told me that she like wearing ribbons, because when she did they made her feel pretty and she always remembered that she was special.

Chesea was not the first one you would have noticed out of all the girls. She didn't make a spectacle of herself. Chesea was quiet and mostly kept to herself, but she was SO happy! Everyone else kind of ignored her, but whenever I would go sit by her she just beamed. That girl loved everyone. No one else really gave her the time of day or tried to get to know her, and that is so so sad to me!  Everyone she talked to left feeling like they were important and you could just tell she was perfectly at peace with herself. 

Sometimes, on bad days, or sad days, or just because, I put a ribbon/bow in my hair. Not because I'm super girly or because it compliments my outfit, but because it reminds me of Chesea, the girl with a ribbon in her hair. It reminds me that I want to be just like her.