Over the weekend I had a photo shoot, which we did at the beach at sunset. I went ahead of time to scout out spots and after I had climbed around on some large rocks a guy who was obviously a biker and had just parked his bike right near where I was, came up to me and said, “So you’ve seen the Sea Rats! Pretty amazing.” I was not totally sure what he was talking about and said, “Actually, no! What are those?” He continued to tell me all about the Sea Rats and how large they are and that they come out just after sun down, typically from under all the rocks I had just been climbing on. I am sure glad I hadn’t run across one and I sure don’t like rats...but I was excited to learn something new about the island and even hoped they would come out while I was there so I could see what it was like. After talking for a few minutes I asked this man if he was from the island. He spoke very fast with a lot of energy and told me he had just come to the island and back in 1950 something he was born in Wisconsin. I interrupted him and said, “That’s where we just moved from!” He then told me all about coming to the island and how one month ago he had biked all the way from Green Bay to the island and was now living here and had gone to the father and wiped his slate clean and about the woman he met here and how she owns a cabin in Wisconsin and all about his biking and everything. It was Awesome. I told him the way he had come was much cheaper than the way we had come, and that it was amazing he rode his back all that way! As we continued to talk I enjoyed his upbeat tone and enthusiasm for life and the energy that he had. I was amazed at his ability to bike that far and though it may sound weird, I really cared about this guy. I wanted to know him more. I wanted to say, “Come to our house for dinner and hang out and tell us more!” But as quickly as he had popped into my life, he popped back out. And of course, I hadn’t said anything of the sort.
Sometimes I wish we didn’t live in a world where it would be weird to give him a hug and say, “You are awesome, let’s hang out.” And sometimes I wish I just wouldn’t care what the world thinks and could just have the courage to grab someone, give them a hug and tell them, “You are awesome, let’s hang out.”  Either way, I thought this man was awesome and I truly do hope he is happy and knows how great he is. I hope I run into him again. And I hope I can have more courage to say what I feel to strangers, because there really are so many good people in this world and everyone deserves to know it.

P.S. After the sunset the rats did come out. Yes, they were huge and ugly and gross...but it was pretty awesome to see this little part of nature play out it’s role in this great, big world. And the best part was letting our kids run free once the pictures were done!