“What do you wanna do today?” said Oliver.

“I don’t know, what do you wanna do today?” said Sam.

“Let’s go into town,” said Oliver.

And so they went. Out the front door, past the big, blue water tower that loomed over the town, and down their home street.

Who knows what they would encounter on this daily jaunt? Perhaps today would be the story of how Sam and Oliver saved the town from the ferocious fire in early July of 1999. Perhaps today would bring them to the town bakery to steal sweet buns, nearly escaping death by incineration. But in all, it didn’t matter what Sam and Oliver were doing that day. As I sat in bed listening to my dad’s voice rise and fall with the pace of the story and watched his face crinkle with excitement, I knew whatever Sam and Oliver decided to do that day would be a thrill.

Sam and Oliver were an unlikely bunch brought together by some lucky circumstance. Oliver being a cat, and Sam being a dog, their friendship was unusual and by some standards, wrong. But somehow when my dad and I lay in my humble bedroom in Lima, NY, the pairing was, without a doubt, perfect.

Growing up in the small town of Lima, my days consisted of walking down to the local ice cream shop with my Grandma, “Gammy,” to eat a waffle cone filled with the best mint chocolate chip ice cream on the east side of Rochester, playing “don’t touch the lava” on the Lima Primary School playground, and sitting on our side porch watching the breeze blow by. However, my fondest and most vivid memory from growing up in this small town was not the town of Lima literally, but the town of “Lima” that my father and I created in our minds. With its hilly terrain, central Main Street, and many local amenities, it was the perfect setting for the characters of Sam and Oliver to take shape.

Now I have grown older.  I live in suburban Pittsford, NY, and I’ve created a life for myself here that I have grown to love just as much. I have amazing friends who support me in everything I do, from my writing endeavors to my obsessive love of reality TV.  A typical weekend consists of going to bonfires, eating cake batter frozen yogurt at Yotality, and playing guitar or ukulele on my back porch. I have not always been the little girl that lay in bed with my father many years ago listening to tales of dogs and cats until lulled asleep. I have ruined our family vacations with stupid teenage decisions and I have stayed out way past my curfew many times. I have been a disappointment to both my friends and my family, and sometimes even myself, but I have also had moments that made me so, so incredibly proud.

I have moved on from small town Lima, NY. But a part of me still, sits back on my side porch on Seneca Ave, next to the big, blue water tower that watches over the town. And that same small part of me still believes Sam and Oliver are adventuring out there somewhere—I know I haven’t stopped.