For Our Friends in Rhode Island...

We get off the Amtrak for stop two on our "meeting flickr folks" trip. We’ve just left New York City and are in Providence, Rhode Island.

 

I am lugging the big red suitcase with Sheree’s anvil collection as well as a backpack and a rolling suitcase.

 

I manage to get the whole mess onto an escalator without looking too much like a geek. And as we get to the Arrivals area, a smiling man is pointing a camera our way.

 

The air is suddenly cut by the high-pitched sounds females make when they recognize each other. Sheree and Gina rush into each others arms. They have never met in person before…but they are immediately and resolutely best friends.

 

I exchange smiles with Brian, Gina’s husband. We smile because we know that our women are happy and are going to stay happy as long as they are together.

 

Over the next few days we got to know Brian and Gina well. We went to antique stores, graveyards, seashores, lighthouses, restaurants.

 

One day when the rain wouldn’t quit, Gina and Sheree decided all four of us wanted to see Meryl Streep playing Julia Child. Brian and I shrugged and went.

 

Sheree and Gina both fell asleep and left Brian and me suffering through what was rapidly defining itself as a seriously crappy chick movie.

 

It was like being with family. Last night Brian’s mother hosted a huge family celebration of Gina and Sheree’s birthdays (which occur within just a few days of each other) and there was laughter and good food.

 

I’d like to tell you a little about Gina and Brian. But it’s difficult for a couple of reasons.

 

First: I have promised not to post their faces.

 

Second: it is impossible to talk about Brian without mentioning Gina…or to talk about Gina without talking about Brian.

 

This is a couple that laughs together, still holds hands after three decades of being together, have endured illness and pain and are still completely into each other.

 

Brian doesn’t take pictures. Gina does. But Brian drives her everywhere she needs to go. He carries her camera bag and he has a never ending supply of wry and really funny observations that lead you to the inevitable conclusion that this world would be a much better place if people just had the good sense to declare him King.

 

Brian drives us around. He’s not a photographer. But he understands us. He knows that when the people in the back seat start gibbering and making inarticulate excited noises and pointing out the window that we have seen a photo opportunity and would like him to pull over, please. Right fricking now. He always does.

 

Gina takes the kind of pictures that make you go “oooooo.” They are a great team.

 

So here they are: doing what they do. Brian is drawing Gina’s attention to something, standing close and probably saying something that makes her laugh or roll her eyes.

 

This image is a simple thank you, Brian and Gina. Sheree and I enjoyed meeting and having you share your home and your hearts with us.

 

Thank you.

Done