Michael Ellick

And it sort of just became, for a while, this weird story in a closet.

And if I met interesting people, I might share it under the right circumstances.

But I didn't share it with everybody.

And again, there was sort of this dissatisfaction because I could not...

You know, I can't prove to anybody that that happened and that it was, you know, the people, oh, it's just a dream.

Oh, you just had a weird waking vision.

The brain is crazy.

And, you know, and maybe all that's true.

But my subjective experience is what it is.

And no one can convince, I don't, on some level, I didn't need anybody to confirm it, but I wanted someone to share how crazy this was.

And I just never had it for a long time.

The thing that comes closest to a confirmation came a couple years later, probably 2009.

So years later, the person who would become my wife, my then girlfriend, I am taking her home to visit my parents for the very first time.

And, you know, this is an important meeting.

I know that we're serious, et cetera, et cetera.

And we're in the house and it's like the second or third day that she's just staying.

And, you know, I lived in New York at the time.

I think she lived in Chicago at the time, my girlfriend.

And we were back on Bainbridge Island visiting my parents for a couple, for like a weekend.

So we're there.