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A Bitter Sweet Day Indeed

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Early one Saturday morning I was woken up by a series of phone calls. Which I kept ignoring because I thought it I'd just forgotten to turn my alarm off. On the 4th set of rings I realized it was someone calling me. When I'd finally fished my phone out of the blankets and answered it I was greeted by the voice of one of my oldest friends.

We go back nearly 20 years. His name is Justin. He asked me if I had any plans for the day and if I wanted to come hang out with his parents and him. It had been more than a few months since I'd seen him and I welcomed the opportunity to get out of the house for the day.

After getting the address I said goodbye - quickly plotted by route and packed my gear. In under two hours I pulled up to the front gates to see Justin waving me inside with a giant smile on his face. I knew it was going to be a good day. He got me to park in the visitors section and we made the 10 or so minute walk to his trailer. He was so excited. So was I to be honest. I missed him terribly. Didn't realize how much until I saw him.

We toured the park. Went for a dip at the pool. Took the boat for a ride around the lake & Played cards. For dinner we ate some burgers - Justins father is a beast on the grill. To finish off the day we drank tea next to the canal & caught up while the sun set and the sky turned to gold.

I shot the entire day - Ended up with a good 2 hours of footage and roughly 100 pictures. The whole day Justin seemed like he couldn't have been happier. His parents too. But the truth is A couple times I noticed a look in his parents eyes. something seemed off. They seemed sad in a way. I had an early engagement the next morning which made staying the night impossible.

As I set out to leave Justins dad pulled me aside and asked If I would be able to come back the following weekend. This is when the look in his parents eyes all made sense. His father went on to explain that they were selling the trailer and wanted to know if I would be able come help them tear down and pack up.

I had just documented one of the last days at their favourite place. What you see here is the last dip in the pool. The last time touring the lake in the boat. And one of the last nights sipping tea next to the canal. They were saying goodbye to the place they spent their summers for over a decade. I was honed to give them this little keepsake.

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My Best Man

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My relationship with him has shaped me into the man I've become. For better or worse. I was blessed to have not one but 2 best men at my wedding Justin was one of them. I couldn't imagine having another person next to me that day. You should have seen how excited he-was when I told him he would have to make a speech.

I didn't know what to expect. When his turn came he got up from his seat with a grin and approached the podium. With an aura of pride Justin proceeded to deliver one of the most heartwarming speeches I've ever heard. Honest. Real. Truthful and full of love.

He talked about things I'd forgotten. Things I remembered and stuff I wished I'd forgotten. He talked about bullies in school and how "I took care of them for him" - To be honest I'd never thought about it again because I was raised to believe that doing so is just what supposed to be done. Needless to say I couldn't contain my emotions. I broke down. As I wiped the tears from my eyes Justing thanked everyone and we hugged. I was crying. He was crying Everyone was. I'm not kidding there wasn't a dry eye in the whole room of 100+ people. To this day I still get comments about it. Seeing him standing up there is a memory I'll cherish for the rest of my life.

Photo credit for the above two images - Ackland Photography

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The R-Word

As you can most likely tell from the pictures and video Justin is special needs. I won't go into detail about the specifics because the truth is it's actually unimportant. The only things that matters is that he's my bro. I'm not just saying it. I fucking love this guy. He's never asked anything of me other than my friendship and the occasional pack of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. Through good times and bad. We've been their for each-other.

Words have power. They can move mountains. Change minds. Uplift souls and destroy hearts.

Stupid. Idiot. Dumb. Deaf and Dumb. Derp. Dim. Freak. Gimp(y) Invalid, Defective, Nutter, Spastic, Spaz, Vegetable, Window licker....... Tard. RETARD.

There's levels to this shit. clearly theres a difference between calling an inanimate object retarded and saying it to or about a person. There's a difference between calling your buddy retarded and calling a person with a disability a retard. You know what I'm talking about.

How does a word like that make you feel. Does it hit you deep down. Can you feel it in your gut. Does it send a cold feeling though you're entire body? Do you use it? have you used it in the past. "This/ that is retarded" ..... "You're a retard"...... "What are you? RETARDED!?"

If you had a child. Sibling or friend I promise you - all it would take is them being called it once - All you would have to do is see the pain in their eyes to understand the trauma what a word like it can cause.

We've all made jokes. We've all said things without thinking. Behind closed doors. Shielded by the anonymity of the internet. Some stuff worse than others. Humanity evolves. Whats socially acceptable changes. Our collective morals shift. In this day and age (rightfully so) there is no place for racism - It's no-longer acceptable to be a racist or to use words associated with it - most of us would never dream of it.

So my hope is that at some point in the future we can add Retard and it's derivatives to that list. I'll be honest - I've used that word in the past - But not for a very long time. So from this day forward I'm pledging to not use it and I challenge you to do the same - Comment below END THE WORD - If you would like to take the pledge your self.

Thank you for your time
Hope you enjoyed
Come back soon
E - Out

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Weird thing I've only just realized. So Hmmmmm.... It appears I've got some odd subconscious obsession or fixation on names that start with the letter J. 8 of the closest people to me have names that start with the letter. From my wife and closest friends to my neighbour whom I've befriended.

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This Music Used in the video Little Dream By DJ Quads
Click here check out his soundcloud!
AND HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE TRACK

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