Chance Meetings

It's funny how you come in contact with some one then run into them again down the road!

I started taking a cake decorating class at the beginning of the month, even though I had to miss the first class due to a wedding. My mom and I have been wanting to do this for a long time, but the timing to take it was never really there. We finally got into one, it was my mom, me, my SIL, and a stranger - Mary. At the first class that I was able to attend, Mary tells me that I look familiar but she couldn't place where from. We spent just about the whole class trying to figure this out. I went through a few different jobs that I had as to where it could have been. I swore she looked familiar from Girl Scouts, but since her girls were at least 7 years older than me, that couldn't have been it. After we left, I remembered that I didn't mention the photo lab that I worked at.

At the next class as soon as she walked in, I told her that I worked at the photo lab and immediately she said that was it! The instructor also remembered me from there also! She then tells me about the time that we processed film of her granddaughter after she was born. This was over 5 years ago and I don't remember hearing all of the story because I wasn't working the counter that day because I was printing. As she was telling me, it came back to me though.

Like most one hour labs, we process 2 rolls a film an hour, and additional rolls are 1/2 hour each. She was one of the few exceptions where we tried to process them as fast as we could! Her granddaughter was born on a Wednesday and she took a few rolls in and had us process them a few days later. That Saturday they had to rush the baby to a different hospital because of heart issues. On Sunday she came in with many rolls. Since they weren't sure how long they had with her, they wanted to take as many pictures as they could since they were expecting the worse.

When she brought the film in, she explained to us why these rolls were important to her and why she was going to stand there and wait (on pins & needles) till they were all done. She couldn't relax until she knew that these images were safely processed.

We were very busy but we pushed those rolls through as fast as we could. At that time, I never could have imagined how she could about that film because I never had kids.

Now I know. I've been very blessed that my girls were healthy. I really feel for parents who have children that don't live long enough to bring them home from the hospital. I heard about Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, but wasn't sure that I would be able to handle doing that. After listinging to an interview with the founding photographer and going to her seminar, I knew that was a perfect way for me to give back. This non-profit group of photographers go to hospitals to photograph still borns and babies who have very little prognosis for life. They don't have a baby to take home, but they now have something more than just memories.

I just found out today (5 days after Mary reminding me of her situation) that I have been accepted to NILMDTS! Not quite sure what happened that my first application went through, but my second one finally did!