My Last Day in Ketchikan

I decided to try one of the few places in town that I hadn’t been to yet – Pioneer Café – for breakfast. Ordered two blueberry pancakes. They were delicious, but HUGE! Definitely could have stuck to just one.

After breakfast, I spent the late morning sitting out by the docks, getting lost in my music and puzzles. The weather was beautiful – 64* and not a cloud in the sky. Most tourists were out and about, taking advantage of the sunshine, and I wanted to tell them all just how lucky they were to be seeing such a perfect day. Decided to splurge on mint chocolate chip ice cream from the Outlet Store instead. Joey texted me around lunch time to ask “Where you is”, and saying that he was on his way into town from the apartment. After about 40 minutes, though, I never found him…which led me to respond with a snide, “Walk slow much, old man?” Turns out he had gotten pulled into the bar to do some work out on the back patio. Wasn’t sure if his text was an invitation to join him or not, and so I stopped to get myself some lunch, hoping that the extra time it took would at least make it seem like I wasn’t assuming so. If that makes sense.

My lunch came from Fish Pirates – a restaurant that sits on the second floor of a building housing shops down below. The height makes for a beautiful view. I had chicken tacos (God damn, that really is all I eat) that were so stuffed, I made a mess just trying to hold onto them. They were delicious, though. Walking out the restaurant, my brain blatantly decided that, fuck – it was my last day in town, and I wanted to spend as much of it with my friends as I could. With that motivation, I headed over to Asylum and found Joey out on the back patio prepping bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers for Friday’s Free Food. Ordered myself a Raspberry Wheat (just had to), and chatted with him about life as a seasonal.

Ryan texted me once he got off work, asking “Where’s errrrbody at?”…and showed up 20 minutes later with beer in hand for each of us. “Raspberry Wheat!” he yelled, setting the drink down in front of me and giving me a smile. He’s so adorable. Jay showed up shortly afterwards, in a sweat and out-of-breath from having run the whole way. I spent my last few hours in Ketchikan soaking in all the last-minute beauty that I could, while the boys talked about I-don’t-even-know-what. Around 4:45, we all piled into Ryan’s car and headed back at the apartment to get my things. Sam was there, lying in bed with his phone in hand…so I basically tackled him in a hug and said “Bye!” He said “bye” back.

My 3 originals all rode with me to the ferry before heading on their way to do other things – Joey, a kickball game; Ryan and Jay, to look at a new car for Mr. Deininger. I hugged (or in the case of Jason, was lifted off the ground) all of them twice, and kissed each of them on the cheek. Said our goodbyes, Joey wishing me “Good luck out there”, and I managed not to cry until they had pulled away. Paid the lady my $6, and boarded the ferry.

Hanging out with The Seasonals is awesome. They're such a mix of young people -- some with degrees, some with no college experience at all. But they all share this passion of just being out there and enjoying life. Ryan will say, "Why be miserable doing a job that you don't love?" I'm sure he made a fine accountant, but his true calling in life is mushing sled dogs across Jackson Hole. And for the past few years, I've had this feeling that I'm failing at life. It's tough when all your friends have careers that they studied for, or are getting married and starting families. And here I am -- 28 years old, a sloppy job history, and nowhere close to getting myself hitched. No offense guys, but I've felt pretty left behind. That is, until I

spent a week in the presence of seasonal workers. They reminded me that life is what you make it. You do what you wanna do. Sure, I still want to teach someday. But I'm young and have a whole life ahead of me to settle down. Joey told me that you don't have to feel like a failure, just because you don't do what society thinks you should. Love.