Things happen every day that no one seems to notice. Perhaps how the elderly woman next door wasn't watering her garden today as she does every morning; how the young lady at your favorite coffee shop isn't wearing makeup for the first time that you've seen her; how a jogger is without their loyal Labrador; how someone new is sitting the corner of your local bar; how a young woman carries her shoulders higher when they were usually slouched; the way a young boy tenses as his old companion passes- you see none of it. I am the one who notices. I see the little things. I watch and I understand.


I sometimes try to remember a time before I noticed things but I have always been an observer. As a child I was quiet and unobtrusive. My desire was to soak in my surroundings like a sponge and then mirror them back at others. As I grew older this became more difficult for many people do not like the truth of what young children see.


People have told me that what I have is a gift- but I find it to be more of a curse. It is painful to watch the world suffer and know it is suffering. "Ignorance is bliss." I find myself attracted to those who have suffered; they make better companions. They are the people who understand the power of trust and truth and desire. Pain makes people wiser and stronger.


No one watches me and I find that strange because it seems like someone is always watching someone else- yet I go unnoticed. Perhaps that is what wallflowers do best- go unnoticed.