Jamie Watts will never forget the images, the faces, of the 49 people killed in one of the worst mass shootings in our country's history.
"I was in line at the grocery store and there was a People magazine, and in that article was the pictures of all the victims. I looked at it, and I could start naming names of people I remembered from Pulse. I literally walked out of the grocery store and left my groceries on the conveyor belt," Watts remembered.
As a funeral director on the First Coast, he works with the Florida Emergency Mortuary Operations Response System. It's the team's job to manage the bodies of the dead during major disasters. Two years ago, after the Pulse shooting, they helped identify the remains.
"I would meet individually with the family, and I would fill out an informational sheet and try to gather as much information about their loved one. Height, hair color, weight, clothing they were wearing, distinguishing marks ... anything we could use to help identify them."
That's a job that would take an emotional toll on almost anyone.
"It was surprising to me that a short event like that could have that much impact on me ... even my family noticed it," Watts said.
Watts thought he was ok. But he wasn't. His son, Landrum, noticed a difference immediately.
"He kind of became more sad and was isolated and didn't really talk to us. Me and him really disconnected at that point, and he ended up getting angry and more aggressive," Landrum Watts explained.
Watts reached out for help and was diagnosed with PTSD. He spent 18 months in therapy battling severe depression and that's when he decided to make a change in his life.
"I realized how fragile life truly is because I do funeral service and I see it every day. But, to see that amount of death, and that young of people, made me realize that many of these people went to the club that night and were probably talking about what they were going to do the next day and probably never saw the sun came up," Watts said.
Watts decided it was time to live his life to the fullest, so he set a goal -- climb to the top of Mount Rainier in Washington state.
"I worked out six, seven days a week. Got on a diet. I ended up losing 40 pounds, which put me in the best health I've ever been in my life," he said.
He and his son spent months in the gym and did everything they could to prepare for the 14,410-foot climb up the active volcano.
In September, they made the trip with a few bumps along the way. Watts fell down a steam vent, covered by ice.
"My guide and my son made it across it, " he remembered. "As soon as I walked across it, I could hear the crack, and I knew the moment it happened what was going to happen."
But, that didn't stop them. They kept climbing and they made it to the top.
The trip changed Watts and helped him deal with his emotional trauma. But, most of all, Watts says it made him a better man.
"Through that sorrow and tragedy, I learned to appreciate life better and even appreciate family better by going through that process."
So, what's next for Jamie Watts? He plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro next year. It's the tallest mountain in Africa.