Worth the wait....

“Are you here to take photos?” I asked as he walked toward the river carrying a real camera—not your typical smartphone variety. His camera’s lens was maybe as long as my forearm.

My father must have told me a hundred times, “Gail, there’s no such thing as a dumb question.”

In light of the, you know—camera, my question was really of the No Sh#* Sherlock variety and! it opened the door for a productive accident. Talking to people can make a world of difference in a life, as our model Henrietta confirms.
Famous! Twice in one week.

So back to my dumb opener….

It allowed me to ask, “Will the dog mess up your shots if I let her in?”

ninety plus degrees
humidity in the 70% range
Henny and I had walked first
we were cooking
we wanted to get in that river!!!
I was even wearing my swimsuit
prepared

“No, no—go ahead,” Sean (did the stitched name on his shirt read Sean?) replied.

And he took photos of Hen!

We chatted…

day job allows him to stop between calls to shutter snap
recently took friend’s engagement photos
Lake Michigan at sunrise
clicked some ducks near the Hoan Bridge
shared
showed
I’m a sucker for good photos

“Anywhere I can see your work?” I asked.

I’m so glad I asked for that point of future connection because….
when I got back to truck, I looked for his Instagram right away….
so that I didn’t forget his profile name.

A quick note of ‘Nice to meet you’
I/Thou
rewarded with photos
of
monster
I
could
never
capture
myself

And a new friend!

Here is where I confess…..
I used to be….people (small talk) avoidant
I didn’t know what to say or I didn’t want to bother or I didn’t want to be seen or I was afraid.
Which is kinda strange because I grew up with a father who’ll talk to anyone—including himself.

Changing myself took work
and
it was worth the wait.

When a problem is intractable and you cannot conceive of a solution to it, you will just have to live through it without a neat story about how it is to be solved.
~John Tarrant—Excerpt from Bring me the Rhinoceros

Perhaps
the lesson
is:

It’s okay to avoid small talk, but not people, because when you reach the layer below the surface, you’ve found life’s secret sauce?