Dorothy & Allen

How wonderful is it to see this couple still in love, still embracing, holding hands, and enjoying each other's company? Allan really wanted portraits of he and Dorothy for some time, and we finally found a date and time that fit their busy schedule! It's such a joy knowing these two. We bump into one another at church, and they have been kind supporters of Bridges of Promise, the small non-profit that I run with my colleague Karen Schuster. BUT what is so fun and interesting about meeting Dorothy and Allan is the 6 degrees of separation that we share. Circa 1954, they actually lived in Catania, Sicily for one year while Allan worked in Melilli as a geologist, a small town 20 minutes away. So, the big deal about that is... Melilli is the town where my grandmother and grandfather are from and where my cousins still live in the home and on the huge farm where my grandmother was raised. I promise you, NO ONE has heard of this little paese accept for the thousands that live in my hometown of Middletown, CT who immigrated to the states before and after WWII. Really, other Sicilians don't even know about this place. I could hardly contain myself when Allan recounted his experience there. I give them both so much praise for the courage to live in another country and embrace another culture during that era. Dorothy even had her first born in Catania! This period of their lives and Allan's desire to have their portraits taken are testimony to their love and commitment to one another, and to their adventure and thirst for life.

These images are stylistic which is not typical for my work, but somehow the mood struck me today.