A little while with Rick.

Rick and I have worked together many times over the years.  A trained and practicing medical professional, he diverted a number of years to being a professional photographer.  Living on a small farm out in the county, I thought it a good time to go visit and take some pictures not only of a nice setting, but also of a good friend.  There was plenty to see along the ride out and back and will add more pictures in the next few days. Rick continues to shoot great images and works at WakeMed in Raleigh.

I left Rick and traveled back into town the back way down country roads that although are built up with suburban homes still have that country flavor.  While stopping at the Village Grocery store on Buffaloe road, I met Julie who was willing to wear a house coat to get some supplies.   Obviously people know Julie, one car full of friends making sure she wasn't talking too much due to recent surgery or some such...another just saying hey!  She didn't care what people thought.  "Life is too short...and we just don't know how lucky we are to have the freedoms we do" she says.  A "promising writer", Julie has already finished a book on her life.  Having to deal with married life at 16...divorce...the loss of her children to her ex-husband...the recovery or kidnapping back of her children and the subsequent jail time that followed wasn't something that she minded sharing with a stranger.  Now with two children in college and two more at home, she is president of her local homeowners association and very active in the kids school PTA.
"Everyday I am amazed that I can open a refrigerator and there is all this stuff" she says.  We don't realize how important those freedoms are and they can be lost.
I am always struck by the stories that I get meeting people in passing.  It's the camera that allows me to connect, but although I usually make a nice photograph out of it, for me personally it's the story of the person that I most remember and appreciate.