Hello everyone, and welcome to another sheltering-in-place update from our nation’s capital. It’s been a tough week for me here personally, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m in a one-day-at-a-time kind of place right now. I’m grateful to have my family around me as we support each other through the highs and lows of this process.
My friend Ryan passed away over the weekend. Ryan was a part of my local hometown gang – a group of my closest friends that’s been hanging out together for more than 20 years. We’ve been through ups and downs, marriages and kids. Some of us grew up together, but we’ve all grown through adulthood together, and I’ve never doubted that I could call on any one of this group for anything in the world, even though my travel schedule makes me a recurring guest star more than a regular cast member. I have a photo of this group on the visor of my van, and when I’m feeling lonely, I flip down my visor and I’m surrounded by my closest friends. Ryan had cancer, and this wasn’t something we didn’t know was coming, but it still hurts to know he’s gone. I’m a hopeful person, and I never lost hope that he would come out the other side of it. He was my age, entirely too young to die. I’m thankful that we gathered the gang together over the holidays, some coming from as far away as California and Colorado, so that we could laugh and share and break bread and just be together. We knew what was possibly to come, and I’m glad that my friends made this gathering possible and that I was in town to be there for it. It was a wonderful weekend filled with warmth and love. Ryan’s smile, laugh and playful spirit will be missed. May he rest in peace.
Also this week, I got a text message from my ex-girlfriend telling me that she got engaged. This is, of course, happy news and I’m very happy for her and her fiancé. I am giving her the benefit of the doubt, as I have for several years now, and believe that she texted me because she wanted to share her good news with me and also wanted to be sure I heard it from her and not through the grapevine. It’s still incredibly painful news to hear though, although also not unexpected. She was really the only person I’ve ever dated that I believed a real future was possible with – a family and a home and all of those things. I thought she would come on this journey with me, and we would plan our future together. Now, I am happy that she will have all of the things she wanted in life, and no doubt way more than I could have ever given her. When you love someone that much, you want them to be happy, and the last time I saw her she told me she was happier with him than she had ever been in her life. I certainly wish them all the love and happiness in the world.
Last week I had mentioned that I was going to be giving some virtual tours of Yellowstone, something I was really excited about and poured a lot of time and effort into. Unfortunately when it came time to present a Canva slideshow over Zoom to a live audience, my internet simply isn’t fast enough to keep up. In more normal times I could go to a friend’s house or even somewhere with a good public internet connection, but also in normal times I wouldn’t be giving a virtual tour. I was very sorry we had to cancel, but it was the only option.
Thankfully, there have been some nice things to counter some of the heartbreak of the week. There have been a couple of beautiful babies born this week to my friends. One was born to my friend Bob, who was one of my best friends at Penn State, and his wife. Another came yesterday to a friend I used to work with in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The photos of these babies remind me that life is a cycle, and their journey and adventure have only just begun.
I also sold some photos this week which is always a great thing. I really appreciate Tanya and Tim for their support through their purchases. For anyone else reading this that has any interest in purchasing any of the photos on this site, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m happy to send you prints or aluminum prints, or sell you a high-resolution digital copy for you to do with what you like.
We also had a few wonderful home parties this week. On Friday, we gathered again in the basement to celebrate the 110th Anniversary of Glacier National Park. My folks and I traveled to Glacier together in 2012 and have some really great memories of our time together in the mountains. It was a fun thing to celebrate. Sunday, we had a wonderful Mother’s Day celebratory brunch which we gathered together to create. It’s always fun when the three of us come together in the kitchen and put a big meal together. It turned into a big New Orleans style jazz brunch, and then we all took a nice long nap afterwards. Later we got on Skype with my brother and his kids, and it was great to see everyone. Tonight, we’re getting ready to brew a 5 gallon batch of beer, something we haven’t done in a few years. We will also drink beer while we do it. We’re trying our best to keep our spirits up, and these little parties are helping.
We had a real cold snap here in Washington this week, with the “polar vortex” giving us temperatures just barely above freezing. We even had a fire in the fireplace this week. Thankfully the sun has been out and it’s actually been pretty nice. I’ve been enjoying my walks and have been trying to sit outside and read when I can.
Other than that, another 7 spins of the planet have happened and I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, and my corner of the travel industry will be closed indefinitely so my current plan is Wait and See. I am hoping to get back into Shadow Catcher at some point in the next few months and maybe we will take off to Virginia or Maryland for a while. I’ve saved the close-to-home states just in case I ever needed to be closer to home. So we may just get out and see them sooner rather than later.
I hope you’re all having a good week wherever you are. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead and I’ll be back here next week for another update. I am taking and editing some photos, so there should be some photos to check out in the next week as well. Take care, stay safe and have a good week. And if you’ve had a week like mine, remember – just one day at a time.
-Mike