“Are you OK? We’ve been worried about you.”

“Sandy? Yes, just fine. ???”

“Well, you know, when you get to be our age, you never know. I travel vicariously through your blog, and we were in Savannah last year and looking forward to hearing about this year’s workshop.”

Ahhh, the blog. Yes, I have been absent.

First, we’ve added four Lightroom 4 workshops to our roster, two being taught by an alumnus and friend west of the Mississippi, and two by us east of that great river.

It takes time and preparation, particularly, since Lightroom 4 came out just as we were getting ready for Savannah & Her Lowcountry. Timing is everything, and sometimes, it is most inconvenient.

And then, there was the computer issue. Arnie’s computer just was not going to work with LR4, so he was badly in need of a new one. Timing, as noted above, was not particularly convenient, and it arrived about 36 hours before we had to leave for the Lowcountry.

Jim, our local computer guru was all set to come and set Arnie up, but to speed things along, I installed some of the programs. Time lost at my end, but necessary, nonetheless.

So the blog? Well, the blog got short shrift. There are only so many of Arnie and me to go around!

Back to the phone call …

It brought to mind yet once again that Arnie and I are so lucky.

Many of the participants who come to our workshop become good friends. We chat by e-mail, check in by phone, and keep track of one another through Facebook and LinkedIn (and yes, even Twitter).

We share trials and tribulations, and most of all, we care about one another.

So, when my normally half-way-prolific blog was absent, some of our friends took notice and worried.

Arnie and I were very touched.

Harriet and Harry and Jean all made Sandy promise to let them know if she found out anything.

Immediately!

By return phone call!

Now Sara goes to Florida in the winter, and met up with Jean again quite by accident. They were together in one of our Maine workshops and now photograph together in Florida.

Kristen and Nikki often get together to egg each other on. They also met in Maine. Pat and Jeff have been known to go out photographing after they met in New England.

Chuck and Sally e-mailed Gary and Chris to see if they, too, were joining us in Santa Fe and Taos. Cheryl and Nancy, who used to work together leading trips overseas and who live in different parts of the country, made plans to join us there, too. The same goes for Michelle and Wendy who are very active in their photographers group, one as past president, the other as the current one.

Benita came down to the Triangle area to support Mike who had an opening of a solo show. She brought her longtime friend Paulita, and now Paulita will be joining us in Charleston with Benita.

Lamar, David, and Becky were glad to see one another again in Savannah, having met on the Outer Banks.

George is trying to get his son Kenny to join us again, this time in Joshua Tree.

MooseCat is in the beginnings of kidney failure. One notice on Facebook, and we get tons of good wishes for his health with empathetic stories to go with them.

These stories are not the exception. That’s one of the wonderful things about running our workshops. We get to see so many friendships form, above and beyond our own that last far beyond the workshops themselves. People come together to share the camaraderie that one can only get when one shares a passion. You can’t beat that!

These friendships are special. You can’t beat that either!

And friends who share the passion of photography, well, for us, that beats all!

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