Live the Dream

I love the moment when two people connect. When two passions fuse, creating equal territory for two people who otherwise would have nothing in common. This happened to me on Cape Cod a few summers ago. We were exploring Hyannis Port the night before we left for Nantucket. Having just finished dinner, my brother, sister and I set off to explore the docks in the August twilight. That's when I met Denny. A retired psychologist from Long Island, Denny closed his practice two years earlier to chase shutter flies and sunsets and capture dreams with his lens. Now, in a shack alongside ferry boats and wooden skiffs, worn as the salt sea laps against them, he sits and signs his photographs. Libby and I each bought one, but not before we talked about our love of the sea. It was as if I was looking at a mirror of sorts as we spoke; staring at a portrait taken of myself, someone who also longs for the sea, though she lives and works far from it. Denny and I had identical smiles as I slipped my framed photo between a brown paper bag. I took his card and we promised to stay in touch. I check his website from time to time. He's still living the dream, from one sunset to the next.