Well, for starters, the farewell tribute to Pete at our company Winter Holiday Party made me cry. I couldn’t stop crying either, darn it. About a quiet and humble but fierce man of fish and shoes. No, no jokes about walking in the shoes of the fisherman. The slideshow was especially wonderful. I felt moved to see all those changes in the life of a man and his family. And seeing pictures of his younger daughter, whom as an adult worked for a time at the same place her dad and I did, seeing her as this li’l bitty ol’ thang out in the woods by the river moved me, too. Then more pics of her growing up long hair and all was fun to see as most of us know her as one with very short hair. I felt both sad and happy as I was reminded of the many changes my own daughters went thru as they grew up into young adults. Plus, alas, even a little sad for myself as I head out of my middle age years into whatever comes next.
Yes, this slide show was as evocative as it was inspiring. Aye, kudos to those who worked to put it together! After all this was about an Inspired Guide who steered his family thru the ups and downs of living life all out with the sorrows and joys of lives fully lived. The slide show wasn’t just about Pete, tho. Heck, it wasn’t even about fish! Instead it was about all of us sharing our common essence as human beings. We all resonated with his story as we remembered our own stories.
Watching Pete up on the Big Screen explore the Wilderness across all of those decades reminded me of my own parents and grandparents outside in the backcountry back when I was a boy. It reminded me, too, of all the trips taken into the mountains and to the seashore with my own three daughters. Life goes on for those who choose to live, and so we may inspire each other to keep moving forward even when times feel tough.
Yeah, stop a while, rest a bit, even fish over there where the bugs fly and the fish jump, then get back up and keep going. Pete, however, looks as if he’s never fallen, or if he has, he bounced up quickly. Like samurai warrior fishing man! Such is the power of such an amazing tribute to one person presented within a community…we can all relate to it and see ourselves in another without even necessarily being aware of all those connections.
My experienced of Pete was as a man on purpose. Calm. Focused. Unruffled. Present. Courteous. A man who stood still and listened. Those who worked awhile with him told me, on their own initiative, they considered Pete not just their teacher in footwear but their mentor in life. His skills were, no, are the essence of craftsmanship. He captured the spirit of the art, so to speak, but not just the products but the relationships of those products to people. After all, people tend to take their feet for granted until they either lose them…or their shoes do not fit them well. A poorly fitted boot or shoe is one of the more unexpectedly agonizing sensations to feel, tho one often not taken for granted in the understandable pushes to save money and time.
Pete worked with me as a customer only once, back in 2015, and once was incredible. He listened to my unique needs such as I wanted a quality product, one as lightweight and breathable as possible but rugged enough to scramble off-trail. The boot must protect badly damaged ankles at least somewhat. Especially shield them from getting bruised and lacerated by clambering over rocks when I hike off-trail. My intention was to used these new “shoeboots” for long-distance lightweight to ultralite backpacking as well as fording streams and scrambling up mountain rocks. Was I too picky? Maybe. Most people with banged-up feet tend to be somewhat picky when it comes to their feet. Pete knew immediately what would work best for me while meeting my budget. Had me try on a pair of Italian-made Zamberlan lightweight hiking boots more shoe than boot.
Wow! Perfect! Didn’t need to spend any more time trying out anything else. One shoe later forced a pressure spot to form a sore on the dorsal and lateral side of one foot, more the consequence of a once-bad strain-sprain from an accident than the shoe itself. Pete banged at it with metal upon metal just enough to stretch it out maybe a millimeter while flatten ng an odd buckle of fabric. Owie spot vanished. Perfect! Didn’t break them in much either. Later during the summer I did a 65 mile solo backpacking trip in 4 and a half days up in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Much of it was on rugged, overgrown, trails destroyed by avalanches, floods, fires, and landslides. Quite a bit was bushwhacking off-trail. Definitely wasn’t the boulevard of the PCT!
Those Zamberlans proved to be fantastic boots! My hike was hard enough as it was, so I was glad not to worry about my feet way up in those remote mountains. That trip turned out to be one of the highlights of my life. Thank you, Pete, for your influence not just on me personally but on all of us around in our larger communities. OK, time for you to go fish! Or something like that.
William Dudley Bass
Wednesday 28 February 2018
Wednesday 6 June 2019
Seattle, Cascadia
Earth
Copyright © 2019 by William Dudley Bass. All Rights Reserved by the Author & his Descendants until we Humans establish Wise Stewardship over and for our Earth and Solarian Commons. Thank you.