Tofino, on film.

In May 2019 I was walking home from my coffee shop gig and was thinking about what kind of vacation I was going to take that summer. I was on my way home to see my family and attend my Stepfather’s service. He passed in January and we had a celebration of life on his 90th birthday. This trip was not a vacation so I was wondering. I spoke at the funeral and the next month my nephew passed suddenly in a car wreck. Just after that, my Dad passed, earlier that year my mentor passed and. a friend I had travelled with had died of a brain aneurysm. It was a tremendous year. In the spring I had a 4 cm inguinal hernia repair and while I was home healing the plumbing was being replaced in our building so I had this guy who looked a lot like Kramer from Seinfeld rebuild my bathroom. I just laid in bed, there wasn’t anything else I could do. We laughed a lot about the irony of timing. Months later when he was back to do some more repairs he rejoiced at seeing me upright and moving around without pain. I was glad too.

As I walked home I got a message from a friend ‘you won!’, I was bewildered, I had no idea what I had won. I didn’t buy a lotto ticket and I didn’t find anything cool in the lane so I was wondering, what the hell. So I asked her and she reminded me of entering the draw for a 3-night stay in Tofino at the Wickaninnish Inn. A vacation that was delivered straight from the universe.

So I collected the trip and had my photo taken for the North Shore News and they told me people don’t often pick up their winnings?! Weird. Tofino is one of my favourite places in the world so I was excited and recovering from everything that had happened.

Time passed and then COVID happened. And here we are. The Wick closed for the majority of our lockdown and they extended my certificate another two years. I booked it as soon as I could, Oct. 1 2021 was the first date available for me to book so guess what I did. I went, and I had an amazing time and decided to make the trip a photo excursion. I took 12 rolls of 120mm film and my Bronica Zenzia camera and I hung out on the beaches for three days asking anyone I ran into if I could take their photo.

Be careful what you wish for because you better be ready to receive it.