THANKFUL FRIDAY
Cindy Maddera
There was a Facebook reminder that popped up this week that I did not share. It was picture taken ten years ago of Talaura and I unlocking a lock inside a church. It was the first time I had visited New York and Talaura had the keys to the city. Those keys let you unlock secret places like the power box to a lamp in Bryant Park, which I did. When I opened that box, it was full of notes from others who had been there before me. This was the first time I had spent any length of time alone with Talaura and we had such a wonderful time as she toured me around, showing me her city. Then I dreamed about Talaura. She was showing me the ropes of the new office I had just started working in. She was glowing, healthy, relaxed. She seemed happy. I don’t know what else happened in that dream. All I know is that I woke without an urgent sense of dread and worry, which is rare these days.
Talaura called me from somewhere in Arizona that very same morning after my dream. Her sister is moving to Hawaii and the two of them were driving the family cars to California to be loaded on a ship. Talaura called me to specifically tell me about all of the things she knew that I would want to photograph. She talked about the landscape, the sparseness, the poverty and all the random shacks of people living off the grid. Talaura said “I know you would want to stop all the time to take pictures.” As she talked of all that she was seeing on this drive West, I wished with my whole heart that I was sitting in that car with her. I told her that I would never make it to California because of all of the stopping. It was so good to hear her voice, but it was more than good to hear the joy in her voice. It made my heart swell. It does not go unnoticed to me that this memory and that dream would show up at the same time; nor does it go unnoticed how well Talaura knows me. She saw the magnificent landscape around her and thought “Cindy would want to photograph all of this.”
Hearing joy and excitement in the voices of those you care about is infectious. Having a friend who knows you so well that they call you with joy and excitement because they know you would appreciate the description of the view they are witnessing is priceless. I am a very fortunate human being.