She looked at me in the eyes, took her sunglasses off so I can see her in the eyes and said:

Are you 22?

-Yes, I answered, confused, but curious

You remind me of me when I was 22, did she say with a smile

Strangers, encouters and random conversations are worth even if they are the tiniest. A word can change your life, a sentence can change your world. I met her on a beach in lagos, between rocks and sea and a soothing wind.

On that sunny evening of a random day, I was swimming in the cold water for about 40 minutes; in my underwear because I didn’t plan on swimming and one should jump in water anytime, all the time. As I got out, feeling the breeze on my numb thighs, she laughed and asked between two giggles, how I could handle to stay so long in the freezing water. I approached her and started explaining that lakes where cold in canada…

She was from Montreal, I am from near Montreal; we switched to french, we shared our stories.

She had been living of the road for many years, after a bachelor in psychology were she realised she was more into botanical. A seed was planted and with the years and few botanical studying here and there, she decided she wanted her own tiny biological farm.

The wind brought her to Portugal where she lived out of couch surfing and timing, until she met her boyfriend.

She said with brightness and wisdom, how wonderful this experience had been to her. How she learned to enjoy a simple warm meal, a comforting warm water for a shower that has the luxury to be long enough, a soft bed, generosity…When you travel the world with nothing, anything becomes a treasure, a moment, a fortuity to cherish.

A caravan is what they now call home

I asked her how it felt to have the rocks and the clifs and the sea and the waves and the holes and the caves and the sun and the sand as a backyard. She replied with a touching truth that it was so impressive it almost felt heavy sometimes.

It almost feels heavy sometimes

That girl that met my way gave me a hug that warmed my heart and looked at me in a way that touched my soul. That girl I met had a dream growing and blossoming in her garden. She decided to work toward this direction and now she lives out a caravan and is getting closer of turning her passion into reality, but it takes work.

She still needs to find a job, raise money, buy a land and nurish it.

But it is inspiring to meet someone that has a dream people could doubt real. In fact, she lives in a caravan in Lagos: Some people would already qualify this as a dream.

One step at a time, growing a dream is like growing a garden, it takes time and patience and love. And even if a plant dies in the process, there is plenty other plants to care for.

The girl that met my way decided her passion was worth taking a flight toward. Even if she has no figures or no name, I whish her to bloom even more.