Sammy G

Camila Carcamo, August 2026

Your birthday is today, so it made sense that you would be the first person I write about here. You are the one who will open this whole section of the website, and honestly, you deserve that level of care in my life because of the person you are.

You, my friend, are such an incredible human being. I learn so much from you. You have made me a better person, and you are so selfless and humble that you probably never even notice the positive effect you have on me. You have opened yourself, your home, and your family to me. Your generosity never ceases to amaze me. And you are funny. Sammy, you are so funny, which I think is such an unexpected thing to discover about you. You are a weird kind of funny too, which often sends me in a spiral of laughter, because I never see it coming. You are so cool, my friend; when I grow up, I want to be like you.

You have become one of my best friends. I love you, and it makes me want to cry when I think about it, because our friendship has been such a journey of unexpected discovery. It has been an unconscious collecting of building blocks for 8 years, and that holds so much value, so much meaning, because every situation and every shared moment, even the small ones, added something to the space we have created today. We are lucky we get to have access to a safe space like that. We had no idea we were creating something that would mean so much.

I feel safe around you because of how you show up. You provide a space of no judgment, and you are competent and reliable. I love you because you show up consistently and with good intentions. You give others a gentle view of the actions they are taking in life, trusting that they are doing the best they can with what they know at the time. You are a high-effort person, and I genuinely appreciate and see when you invest that effort in me and in the things we plan so we can have a fun experience together. I never take that for granted, and I see how much you care; I feel your love with your actions. Thank you.

There is a mutual appreciation and a sense of real admiration that comes from having watched each other move through so much shit and so much beauty. We have also developed belief in each other and respect for each other for the same reasons, and that is what lets us push one another toward the next thing, always with the right balance between compassion and challenge. It’s a beautiful synergy that we have created when it comes to supporting the other person with goal setting and the achievement of those goals.

You are so mature; most people would break if they had to sit through one of our “serious” conversations, where with respect and care we can talk to one another about the real stuff in life. I feel so insanely lucky to have a friend like you who will not tell me what I want to hear, but what I need to hear, and the fact that you appreciate the same from me is so liberating, because we are never pretending or performing for each other. There is substance to the things we share.

I really like that we discovered each other slowly, by observation, and only after that did we decide we loved each other. Not the other way around. I think saying I love you took us about 5 years, and I think that is awesome, because when it came, it was genuine, but also because it usually happens the opposite way. We usually get placed in a circumstance with someone, and that circumstance fast-tracks the whole thing, forces the liking and the connecting because “it makes sense” given the situation, like school, or friends of friends. But that wasn’t us; our friendship made no sense at all; nothing was glueing a crazy Argentinian girl and a stunning Australian girl together like that. There was only the slow, unconscious discovery of who you really are at your core, and once I realised I trusted and liked you, it became a genuine desire to keep you company for who you are becoming, because I am curious about your next steps, and I want to be there to see you shine. I really enjoy seeing you shine, Sammy.

What a friendship. Happy birthday, Sammy.

I chose this photo of you because it is my absolute favourite photo of yours that exists. You look so beautiful and so mature in this photo. It was the first photo where I looked at you and thought, shit, my friend has become a woman; look at her. But as I always tell you, you are the most stunning female I have ever met, and still that is the least interesting thing about you. So imagine the incredible person you actually are, and the beautiful world you hold inside of you.