Mike and Bill

Today was was exceptionally interesting on many fronts. First was being able to time a day w/ Lance, who I don't get to see much when the snow isn't flying. He recently completed rehab after surgery on his torn left rotator cuff in time to have his right rotator cuff operated on Tuesday. These surgeries are about four or five years in the making. It's about time. No less, it was great to sit around and geek out on camera stuff all day w/ a good buddy and someone at the same relative skill level as me.

Aside from spending time w/ a good friend, it was the people I met today and their stories that astounded me.

Waiting in line for the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston, I was hoping to use my 90-minute wait time to screw around w/ time lapses on the G10 - which I finally got back from Canon and fully refurbished. Instead, a man wearing a "US Navy Retired" hat stepped out of the van parked in line ahead of me and walked toward me - clearly looking at the base stickers on my windshield. I unintentionally made eye contact w/ him and he came over to talk. First thing I noticed, aside from his hat, was the revolver on his hip.

My first thought was a question about why he felt he wanted it to be so obviously visible. Afterall, he was clearly on some kind of vacation camping trip. I was thrown for a loop by his British Columbia license plates - even more so after he boldly identified himself as a good "Rush-loving" conservative. Why the gun in the holster? Why be so outward w/ constant references to Ronald Reagan and wear your active duty US Navy rank (lieutenant commander gold leaf) on your hat if you're not even living in the US anymore?

It got only more odd as I conversed.

"I've got my 16-year-old daughter with me and we're on a camping trip to Port Angeles," he casually said - although it was clear that was just a segway to something else. I figured he just wanted to talk about his kids and that's just what he did.

"It's been a hell of a week. My 14-year-old-son just took his own life last week," he said.

Imagine sitting in your hippied-out 1980 VW Westfalia van, hoping it won't catch on fire in the hot weather and completely consumed w/ something so benign as making time lapses and then you have this guy standing at your window. As different as we were, we had that one thing in common. His hat said it all.

He went on to tell me how he adopted his son from Russia. The boy was a multiple amputee who seemed to have trouble fitting in. Internet bullying came into play and from what Mike says, it came from the girls his age. Yep, it was via Facebook.

He never mentioned the kid's name, but talked about how the kids who may have harassed his son rallied around him after death - to the tune of more than 400. It was really something to see how social media contributed to this kid's death and than helped make his death easier to deal w/ for his friends and family.

The kid had a recent surgery and was prescribed Oxycodone (Oxycotton) during the recovery. He says the boy stashed the pills and didn't take them as prescribed, but took many of them at the same time, causing an overdose. He also shot himself.

Mike bought him a 22-caliber gun and took him to the range some weeks before the suicide. He talked about how he tried to count the brass (shells) on the range, but never found them all. It's tough to account for them all as they're bouncing all over the place. But according to Mike, his son stashed one round for his new gun they used at the range that day. It was the same bullet he used to take his own life later.

Mike wanted to talk about two things today - being a conservative and his son's death. I don't know why he wanted to talk to me about either of them. In both cases, and any other instance, sometimes people just want to talk to someone. And those base stickers on my van told Mike I was someone who could listen and help him out.

I don't know what to think of it really. It's just something to think about I guess. The military really is a fraternity. For the better or worse, it will always be there for us.

The next person I met was Bill. I was setting up my time lapse off the fantail of the ferry when he became obviously curious what I was doing w/ a laptop and a small camera on a tripod. We started chatting.

He too was on his way to Port Angeles. He and his wife recently moved there from Key West after selling his fly fishing guide service. I don't know why, but he wanted to talk to me. He wanted me to listen. He told me about life in Key West using a fly rod for game fish. It was remarkable. As we talked he told me he too used to work in the ski industry - as the head of marketing for the Aspen Ski Company. What a small world.

Bill was very pleased w/ his professional accomplishments. In addition to his accomplishments in the ski world, he owned a fly fishing shop near Aspen that seemingly did well. He sold his company to Aspen for a lot of money and used that to pursue his dream in Key West. After he and his wife got sick of it there, they found their way to Port Angeles - from a direction sign in Key West no less.

Just as they settled into life in Port Angeles over this past year things got complicated. Bill and his wife were returning from a trip this week to Harborview. She's got cancer. I don't know why but Bill wanted to tell me about it. All I wanted to do was shoot time lapses. We just had something in common - skiing and fly fishing. Maybe it was being men. I don't know.

Bill and Mike are two VERY different people. They likely wouldn't get along. I can't even pin down why except they are much too different. They saw some kind of commonality in me. Why?

I'm in the gray of a very black-and-white world. I don't identify with any group. The people who know me in the action sports world think I'm great at being in the military and the military folks think I'm Mr. Action Sports. Truth is that I'm neither. Let's not forget about the people who don't know anything about either of those two very endemic worlds - they seem to think I'm the best at both or more. For as painful as that really is for me it's a good place to be.

I don't suppose there's any great point to get out of a day like today. Today was just another day and Bill and Mike are just everyday people - and so are all of you.