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By definition, the realization that you\\u2019ve experienced a close brush with death can\\u2019t come until after you\\u2019ve survived, but sometimes you might realize you\\u2019re already standing on thin ice, left to wonder how you\\u2019re going to stay alive.

We hope these moments in life are few, if at all, but when they do occur, reliving them with the safety and clarity of hindsight can teach us lessons about ourselves that we may otherwise never know.\\xa0\\xa0

In his piece \\u201cMelting Away \\u2014 Ice Fishing on LSD While Your World Dissolves,\\u201d a story published as part of Good Beer Hunting\\u2019s Olly Olly series in collaboration with Oskar Blues, writer and photographer Mark LaFaro describes his venture onto a frozen lake in Minnesota and what brought him there in the first place\\u2014the end of a partnership for him and the dawning of a new era for his friend Finney, who recently became a new parent. Beginnings and ends like these can feel similarly rudderless and isolating, something Mark and Finney found out during what ended up being a more treacherous outing than they originally anticipated. In this conversation with Mark, he told me he\\u2019d do it all again, maybe with a bit less LSD and definitely with some more safety precautions.

He also talks about how despite the fact that fishing is closely tied to drinking, how the two alcohol-free friends managed to still open their horizons and hearts to one another during a terrifying, but somewhat necessary catharsis for them both. The two friends danced on the edge of life and came back to tell the tale, and we\\u2019re fortunate to hear all about it.

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