If you were to ask my friends to pick a song that reminded them of me, they would probably laugh for a few moments then promptly respond with, “That’s easy. Liv It Up by Alexander Ludwig.” Not because I grew up in Canada or traveled the world with my friends (yet), but simply because when I was only fourteen years old, I took it upon myself to memorize the entire song. And then, in the backseat of my best friend’s car on the weekend of her wedding back in June, I sang the whole song without missing a single beat. I can’t tell you how many times in my life I have been told, “it’s just a person” or “they don’t even know you exist.” At age fourteen, words like that can make you feel absolutely ridiculous and for the longest time I did. However, sometimes you find yourself looking for the one thing that makes you feel just a little bit better on days where you can’t seem to find the light. My thing was The Hunger Games, but not /just/ the Hunger Games itself; it was the cast. It was the people who brought my favorite characters to life. And since I am an absolute sucker for villains, I decided to fall down the rabbit hole of loving each and every single one of the Careers. I wouldn’t love the Careers as much as I did and still do to this day if it wasn’t for the people who played them and Alex played Cato (duh) – who happened to be (you guessed it) one of my favorite careers. I’m a super cheesy person so I’m just gonna cut right to it. I have met some of the most important people in my life because of THG and those people and I, for the past few years, have only continued to fall more in love with everything and anything Alexander stands for. Whether it’s a new film, new music, or a new trip across the world. There is not a single day that goes by where I am not thankful for the opportunity to have someone like Alexander to look up to. Sometimes I even feel bad because that’s such a HUGE responsibility – to be someone’s idol, but I can pinky promise you, from the bottom of my heart, my friends and I picked the right person. This past July, I had the honor of meeting him at the event in San Diego. I had just moved to California and was very much afraid of driving on the highway (I grew up in Wisconsin, it’s a big change!) so my hero of a dad drove the hour drive for me. I got to know the people in line around me, got some sick viking tattoos, and the closer I got to the door, the more surreal the experience became. Eight years ago, if you told me that I would get to meet the person who has done nothing but bring sunshine on cloudy days... there is no way I would have believed you, but I would have loved to hear it. I would have loved that hope because at twenty-one years old, sometimes it’s nice to feel fourteen again, but this time it’s not “just a person”, it’s your silly little dream come true. And if I wasn’t someone who was incredibly shy and blushed at everything – after I apologized for blushing, I would have said to you: Alex I really, truly hope you know that I am so unbelievably proud of you. You deserve nothing but all the love and happiness you have brought into this world for the rest of your life and even long after. You have come so far in your career and I LOVE seeing you thrive. You inspire not only me, but so many wonderful people across the world. I hope you continue having the upmost success and the worlds best surfing trips. Thank you for being who you are.
