The Real Cape Casting

“They are straight out of central casting.”

We have all seen people that flash through our existence for a brief moment that seem perfectly placed.  That fit the puzzle.  That do not challenge us or our notions about what the days are supposed to be like.  Then there are the others ones.  What do you do with the individuals that bend the norm, that challenge your comfort, whose existence actually warps time and space around them and will suddenly change a trajectory? And then, how do you escape the pull of a presence when they are inextricably carried off to never be seen again by forces they and you could not have dreamed to control?  There were still things to be said, their role was not finished.

“We are bent into outlandish loss.”

I think this might be the opposite of the common refrain “straight from central.”   We can now mark our loss of the days removed with anniversaries.  This past week marks two years since casting call here on Cape Cod for the potential Real Cape reality TV show.  Story here.  I did not expect to be involved.  Yet, here I have a series of photos from that day.   I got pulled in at the last second, that very morning, and enjoyed my small part in the day immensely.  I even had a little time to snap a few photos.

That same week, I selected photos as an album to present to Damien and the Real Cape.  They then went dormant.  These were photos I had wanted to talk to Damien about.  I wanted to know if he wanted them published, to see if he wanted to say anything about them, if he had some other use for them— truthfully I totally expect the conversation would take a turn I could never had anticipated and ultimately it did—  it didn’t happen at all.  That said, I had fully expected to get around to this conversation eventually.  I think that this is probably not an uncommon theme as we think about Damien today.  I expect the list of planned conversations that never took place is a LONG one.

I didn’t really know what I had to say when I sat down to post these, but knew something must be said.   So there you go.  Here is an un-talked about album of photos from the day of casting.  Casting for roles that will never exist.

This week is the five month anniversary of  Cape Cod losing two deeply loved personalities present in these photos, Damien and Gabby.  They are missed.  They are loved.

I dedicate this album of photos to those Damien and Gabby loved, with hope that you find solace in the memories.

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