Happy Birthday Sam Winchester!

This past week has been good for my soul.

My Supernatural loving soul, that is. The fandom designated it #SamWinchesterWeek, which meant my timelines have been filled with all kinds of posts about all our favorite things about Sam Winchester – leading up to today, Sam’s 40th birthday!

The fandom started with favorite Sam-centric episodes, which included some of the classics and some you might not expect – Just My Imagination, After School Special, Sacrifice, When the Levee Breaks, Soul Survivor, Mystery Spot, and two of my personal favorites, Red Meat and Born Under A Bad Sign.

Just looking through the episode caps on the timeline makes clear what an incredible, nuanced character Sam Winchester is, and how brilliantly Jared Padalecki portrayed him.

Next the fandom moved on to a cascade of Sam’s funniest moments that showcased Padalecki’s incredible comedic chops. He has sometimes said he finds comedy hard and doesn’t think he’s that good at it – clearly we all beg to differ!

My personal favorite is the lock and key bad acting scene from The French Mistake, which I literally cannot watch without laughing out loud, even now when I’ve seen it so many times.

But there are so many others.

One of the things that made Supernatural the amazing show it was is that Jared, Jensen, Misha and the rest of the cast were capable of such a range in their acting. They could break your hearts, but they could also make you laugh with just a look, just an expression.

We also celebrated Sam’s undercover outfits in all their infinite variety.

There were lots of votes for yoga teacher Sam and priest Sam, for obvious reasons…

But the boys’ job gave us so many other outfits, and Sam looked damn good in every single one of them.

These are a few other favorites.

And in the category of yes, Sam and Dean look good in pretty much everything, even orange prison jumpsuits….

I happen to think Richchester AU Sam was hot too, man bun and all.

No, I’m serious, Sam. Own it.

Sam’s most memorable quotes got a shout out, from “So get this” to “According to the lore,” and some less repeated but equally memorable one shots. Some of them can make me laugh every time…

But many of Sam Winchester’s most memorable quotes were beautiful, inspiring, full of the courage and empathy and caring that made the character so important to so many of us.

And Jared’s delivery? Made them even more powerful.

So many people fondly remembered Sam’s bravery and loyalty for favorite personality traits, along with his his incredible capacity for empathy, which he felt so easily and so genuinely.

No wonder he’s such a beloved character.

His intelligence and perseverance were also inspirations. Many people, including me, also mentioned his faith – in his brother, and in goodness itself.

Sam is forever an inspiration for hanging onto those things, and his capacity for forgiveness, in the face of literally apocalyptic circumstances that befell him, again and again.

Favorite moments with another character of course brought lots of emotional (and just plain fun) moments with Dean, including those quintessential brother moments…

And some of those all-too-rare brother hugs.

We didn’t get them very often, but when Sam and Dean hugged, all was right with the world. Usually.

And of course that goodbye that tore our hearts out – and the joyous reunion that started mine beating again.

From the barn to the bridge…

There were favorite moments with many other characters too, including Cas, Rowena, John, Mary, Eileen, Charlie, Jody and more.

Even Crowley found his way in there!

Favorite physical traits were pure fun, with candidates ranging from his dimpled smile to his gorgeous hair to his puppy dog eyes (and of course that impressive physique).

And my timelines were all very very pretty as a result.

Honestly, these are just a small sampling of all the heartfelt, inspiring, appreciative, occasionally hilarious posts that graced my timelines for the past week. I miss my little Show every single day, so when the fandom still comes together and does something fun and positive and happy making, I’m over the moon. So grateful we still get to have these celebrations together, even years later.

And now it’s the big day, so I’m joining everyone in wishing Sam Winchester a very happy birthday, and thanking Jared Padalecki for bringing him to life the way you have.

We miss you, Sam – I cannot wait until you grace my screen again so we can appreciate every single thing that makes you special.

– Lynn

You can read all about how important Sam

Winchester is to Jared Padalecki (and from Jensen,

Misha and more about their characters) in

Family Don’t End With Blood and There’ll Be

Peace When You Are Done. Info and links at: