meetings
Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 07:30AM the mail was good. really, really good. but then there were the meetings.
i have had an awfully hard time finding words to describe meeting martha and gwen. like sitting down with someone for the very first time and discovering that you've known each other before. like characters in a book coming to life. like sharing a good visit with thoughtful, creative, engaging souls who have entered your life in a most unusual fashion. it's nearly impossible for me to convey the true feeling of these encounters.
first, there was meeting martha in her booth at the show. something that was only possible thanks to stars in perfect alignment (read: a last minute email from a friend with an extra wholesale-buyer's pass). there were the hellos, a hug, quick introductions and catching up, those stunning clothes that i could not stop looking at. or touching.
and then it was the next day. there was collecting gwen from the train station. which felt like a scene from a book in itself. me, describing myself via email. saying that i'd be wearing a red hat. and then driving to the train station, feeling just a bit nervous about finding each other. and liking each other. silliness, after the fact
and then dinner, at a favorite restaurant, with gwen and martha and martha's friend cynthia, a ceramacist who, like martha, was a searchlight artist in the show. there was the wine. and the delicious afghan food. and the conversation that went on and on (and could have gone on some more) and hardly broke for air. that's how i remember it, there in the dim light of the restaurant.
there were presents, too. martha brought a cuff and a scarf for each of us. and gwen brought me a felted bowl. i think i had tears in my eyes, opening these gifts. so thoughtful. so generous. so overwhelming. so very much appreciated. i am certain that i could not love these three items more if i tried.
i was aghast at myself for going empty handed to meet these new old friends. but i did. and cynthia was so kind. she shared with me that her mother says - sometimes you just have to be gracious and receive. so i did. but there are gifts heading out to gwen and martha by mail, because i can't resist sharing with them the delight i felt at receiving something lovely and unexpected.
there were photos that evening. but none of them so fantastic, as though the occasion wasn't meant to be captured by a lens. it made a different sort of impression instead.
and then there were good-byes. hugs. a ride back to the train station. more hugs. saying goodbye, now, to friends.
so hard to capture. and to convey. that's the best i can do. an evening i won't soon forget.
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