……………………(not my rescuers)

This morning I got stuck. Stuck in the darn snow. At dawn – barely light out. I had backed in over this icy embankment, JUST off the road, but my car was not going to go forward and get me out of there. No way. So, on this lonely back road, I was so relieved to see another vehicle that I waved the truck down. It took the longest time and lots of finagling before – at some point – the wonderfully helpful man produced a shovel (now I know to stash one) and – one more push! and miraculously – the car bucked over the icy snow and was out. I looked at this kind person and thanked him – and saw that he was wearing the blue outfit that signifies “medical”. I thought he might have just finished an all night shift, but no, he introduced himself as James Hanowell, a surgeon at the nearby hospital, on his way to work – to save people’s health, or lives for all I know. It felt like he had done that for me.

Afterwards I thought about that. The value of what he does. How unquestionably he is helping people day in and day out. What about me, an artist. Can I say that about what I do?

I then recalled this interaction I had a while ago on a bus ride to NH. This woman sitting next to me was exuberant. She had just been to visit Spaulding Rehab, a hospital in Boston, to tell them about her husband. Apparently, a year or so earlier, he had been so badly injured (brain) in an accident that the therapists at the hospital had told her he would never recover, never be able to walk again. She was NOT going to take that as truth. She knew he was an avid hiker, so she proceeded to take gorgeous photos of the mountains he loved so much. She then placed the photos in the front of his walker day in and day out. On the bus ride next to me, she was returning after sharing with them photos of her husband climbing, and even on the peaks of these mountains. She would not have called herself an artist, but she knew the power of the IMAGE, of what he loved so much. Her photos had made the difference. It was that connection that lit him up.

Great story, say the 2 pups as the snow KEEPS falling. Now that you finally made it back home, would you please throw the darn ball???