http://www.wheretheeaglewalks.com/

Joe Williams is the former mayor of Saxman and the Ketchikan Borough.

I first noticed Joe when I saw him starting tours on the dock, wearing a hat with a feather and a beaded embellishment around the ban.

I first talked with him back in June. I introduced myself after he spoke to a group of Road Scholars for the Alaskan Dream Cruise. It takes a lot for me to introduce myself to a stranger because I usually just linger from a distance, so he must have made an impression. He has a very kind, distinguished face and seemed like a legitimate tour guide (which, well, a lot of the independent tours don’t).

Last week, Joe asked me “Where to after this?” Which is the second of the top two questions you get asked here (the first being: do you live here year round?). I told him Guatemala Peace Corps and he told me about the guys he knew in college who were doing the peace corps.

Before you know it, Brie and I have been invited to dinner at Joe’s house.

On Friday night, Brie and I appeared. I texted Joe that Brie was a vegan but I was still nervous about showing up to a Native’s house without a vegan dish. Maybe that is small-minded but the Native culture is unfamiliar to me.

He texted me back and offered to pick me up.

We walk in with our salad and we are both nervous. I felt like I was showing up to introduce my parents to my future husband except it was my vegan friend. Are they going to approve? Did I go wrong somewhere?!

We sat down to dinner, after Joe’s wide Susie (who is white, by the way) asked us if we had allergies. I said.. Well, Brie is vegan. And she said “Joe, I thought she was vegetarian!” Lost in translation. He shrugged like “oops!,” it was precious.

Susie didn’t skip a beat: Oh my granddaughter is vegan! If I had known, we would have tried this really great recipe that we got together. When I picked my granddaughter up from the airport, I told her: I haven’t bought anything yet so we will have to go to the store so you can show me what to pick out!’ ”

We sat down to dinner, it looked like a meal for 10 people. Fried chickpeas (my first time eating those), a salad with mayo (I ate this but Brie could not), muscles cooked in bacon and oranges, another salad with greens just like the one we brought, and a pressure cooker full of white rice.

After a few minutes of mostly talking about veganism, Joe put down his fork.

I wasn’t sure what was coming. I was a little nervous.

He proceeded “I didn’t say anything to my granddaughter because I didn’t want to upset her, but I have a few questions. How did you know that you were one? And how old were you?”

Susie piped up “Well she chose to be one!” And we all chuckled.

Brie said she became a vegan when she was eight years old. At first, her mother wasn’t going to revolutionize her kitchen habits so Brie ate cereal. Eventually, her mother gave her an allowance and if she went shopping with her mom, she could pick out her own groceries.

Now Brie jokes that she came out as a vegan to Joe and Susie . Considering that Joe said “How did you know that you were one, how old were you when you knew?” Haha.

I was relieved and delighted that veganism wasn’t a deal-breaker in our new relationship. I knew that it was going to be a divergence, but I didn’t expect Susie to be so informed and impassioned about veganism from her granddaughter.

I also wasn’t expecting us to pray to God before our meal. I don’t know much about being Native but I didn’t expect that it would be like home, that we would pray over our meal.

What really surprised me about the night was how Susie and Joe welcomed us into their home. Joe is the former mayor of Ketchikan and from a few interactions alone, he invited me into his home with whoever I elected to invite.

As we were leaving, Susie invited Brie to stay with she and Joe once she returns to Ketchikan for a visit. She said “We have this big house and no one to fill it! You should stay with us.”