This is a text I sent to my girls on this, their first Father’s Day after their dad passed.
After my second season in Yellowstone, I found myself back in Lafayette, Louisiana—close to Mimi and Step-Bob, working in the photo lab of a tiny camera store. I had this sweet little condo, cozy and charming, decorated with Memaw and Papaw’s furniture…just the way I liked. From the outside, it probably looked like I was settled. But inside? I was miserable.
The energy at work was heavy—people constantly complaining and bickering about each other, just dragging through the days. I wasn’t in my element at all. I missed the mountains, the clean air, the wildness, the camaraderie. I felt stuck.
Around that time, your dad and I were somewhere between friends and maybe-something-more. We weren’t officially dating, but he had this way about him—funny, easygoing, adventurous, endlessly generous despite having almost nothing. He adored the outdoors and treated every person he met like a lifelong friend. Ok, yeah…I liked him.
He came to visit me in Lafayette just before heading back to Yellowstone for the winter season at Old Faithful Snow Lodge. It didn’t take long for him to see how unhappy I was. One afternoon, without saying a word to me, he picked up the phone, called the Snow Lodge manager, and somehow—miraculously—got me a job for the winter. Someone had backed out last minute. There was a spot.
That was it. We packed up my things, put them in storage, and hit the road for Wyoming.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped so he could buy me snow boots. Once we got to the park, he made sure I had a pair of used skis—non-negotiable for surviving a season at the Snow Lodge.
That winter? It was pure magic.
The kind that changes you.
The kind that reminds you who you really are.
While Wolfman and I didn’t remain married the way we’d hoped, we did get to a point where we were the closest of friends. I miss his goofy jokes, (Joie, my youngest, once said that that man could tell one of his stories to a wall and it would laugh) and his zest for life.
Fly high, Wolfman!
Hello Butterfly! 