NOBODYS DOING NOTHING

I’ll be brutally honest, the first time my brother-in-law Larry said we should go to a local pro wrestling match for one of our DADS NIGHT OUT sessions I reacted the same internally as if he offered me a chip after picking a wedgie from his butt crack.

I couldn’t think of something I wanted to do less to capture with a camera. (maybe a Taylor Swift concert)

If you don’t read another sentence further then know this: I WAS 100% WRONG.

Present. The word of 2025 for me. Over the holiday break I had a lot of time to ponder how I show up for my family, for my friends, and for my life in general. My mind is rife with destructive thoughts. I’m exhausted with discontentment. I must be a blast at parties. 😅

The antidote is presence, I’ve come to find out. There’s so much adventure in the present that I’ve traded for haunts of the past and sirens of the future. So much discontentment is bred from either one of those timeframes, with the offer of a drink from the fountain-of-youth-contentment in the “right here, right now.”

So back to Larry and his ability to do things that others might not (I have a lot to learn from him), we went to a local pro wrestling match.

IT. WAS. WILD.

Everyone was there, and I mean everyone. All races, all walks of life, first dates, long-time fans, a guy that stepped out of an 80s Reebok catalog, and a dude that looked like he was wearing one of those trucker hats with the wig attached but it was 100% real. It was incredible. If you want to be reminded of equality… go to one of these events.

Immediately I was in the hunt with my camera for that perfect frame. SO much was going on. People screaming, bodies being thrown and slammed, beers clanking all around, and some dad facetiming his son at home who wanted to see the gig before bed. We squirreled through the crowd and all over the Bierstadt Lagerhaus finding angles and action.

from the picture above

I parked behind 2 guys ringside during one of the early matches and caught this frame. I found myself more interested in the two guys watching the match than the two guys in it. Mr. Left was in a red fleece from WalMart, unkempt thinning blonde hair, and a pair of wireframe glasses. Nothing about him was impressive. He was tuned all the way into what was going down in the smash box in front of him.

“Get HIM!” “YEAH!” Random shouts of excitement burst out of him like large bubbles popping in a boiling thunderdome stew. When he wasn’t yelling, he was anticipating what was happening next by chewing on his pointer and middle finger on his right hand, rocking back and forth with his elbows on his knees.

Mr. Right wore a white beanie, black shirt, and blobs of tattoos on his exposed forearms, probably some others that only come out in the sun or after a few more beers. His screams were different, and more constant.

“FUCK HIM UP!” “FUCK YOU, YOU OVERRATED ASS!” “YOU SUCK!!!” He was also tuned all the way into the show.

Every shout met my ear with hot breath and shockwaves of fun. He knew the characters, he knew the environment, he believed in what was happening. Maybe he didn’t believe it was real, but he believed IN it. Engrossed, if I’ve ever seen the word in real life.

As I triggered rounds from my 128GB clip in the FUJIX100T-Uzzi trying to capture THE shot, I had a bit of an out of body experience. I was in a place I would have never chosen to be, experiencing a world I have no business being in, having a feeling of freedom I haven’t felt in a very, very long time.

I backed into the wall behind me with a half crouch and surveyed the crowd to my right, head bobbing just high enough to see the sea of faces. Not a single person was frowning. I’m putting my cash on the under that nobody was even thinking about the things they don’t have 👈🏻 is that the right way to say that? I don’t bet, so I don’t know what the hell I’m saying. You understand.

I’ve never even heard of this wrestling production until Larry sent me the link (he also didn’t know anything, btw). The wrestlers, the characters themselves, not one time have they occupied a single second of my thought life. Couldn’t name a single person in the room. A bunch of nobodys doing nothing.

Yet here we were, experiencing something completely real, capturing moments that were really happening. And having so much fun doing it.

Mr. Right and Mr. Left were the hand of God reaching down silently and gently touching my heart. “Be present. There is so much happening around you that you completely miss for spooks that only want to torment you with the unknown. Know me, know this, know right now, and be present.”

I’m so glad I went to this thing. I’m so glad I said yes to my brother Larry, and threw my dumbass judgement in the bin. I’m so glad I let whatever I was thinking about an hour prior to that night flitter off into whatever universe it resides now.

May 2025 be more of this, please, God. Remind me over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and…