Michael's Odyssey

This is my friend Michael and his wife, and I have a story to tell.  We met through a mutual friend about 10 years ago.  He wanted to brush up on his studio lighting before he taught a course at a photography school in Montana, and so when he was in New York he came by and we spent a wonderful day with lighting and photography and great conversation.  But I am getting ahead of myself here.  Michael worked for one of the big New York tabloids as a photographer, and about 12 years ago decided to leave the rat race and move to Montana with his wife and children.  He was doing freelance photography, and then had a chance to teach.  He is a wonderful teacher because of the man he is - someone who, as he explained to me later, "goes deeper."  Sitting in my living room I realized that he was really someone special because of his love of people and his outlook on life.  It was a joy to meet him for the first time, and we have kept in touch since that day.  So after a year in Montana, he decided to build a log cabin for he and his family!  He had some help, but he pretty much built most of it himself.  So after about 10 years out there, he and his wife decided they wanted a change and to be around more people, so they moved to Vermont 2 years ago!  When I talked to him 6 months ago, he said he was learning to make bread and sell it!  He was renting what had been an empty bakery shop and kitchen and making the most amazing breads.  So when Stan and I went to the Stellafane Convention in Vermont, we stopped to see Michael and his wife one evening.  Stan and Michael knew each other when Stan was at Newsday in NY, and Michael and he covered the same assignments sometimes.  So it was a wonderful reunion for us all, and we got to see their house.  Oh, and the zig-zag fence in front?  Michael built that himself, of course!  Quite a trip for such a talented man, and such a lovely person.