After Cate Hollister and I reconnected at the end of the year exhibition I had, she put me in touch with Elaina. I can't say exactly what caused it, whether it was her forgetting about our first appointment or my forgetting my gear on the way to our rescheduled meeting or something else entirely, but I would use the word strained to describe our time together. It felt as though the point of what I am doing and why I was there with her was totally lost -you will likely hear it in the interview - and there was a confused and maybe even combative energy. 

I left this interview feeling deeply affected by that and full of so much doubt and trepidation for embarking on the third year of this endeavor. It happens like this so rarely in a face-to-face meeting. We all have the encounter in more anonymous ways with other people who don't come into our sphere with all the love and joy and encouragement that we want, right? Ordinarily though, when I meet someone face to face and look them in the eye and talk with them, I feel connected to them and part of something much bigger. I didn't feel that with Elaina and even as I type this now, more than a week later, I am still searching for why. And even though we don’t see the world through a similar set of eyes, I still think there is value in our conversation. And despite the fact that Elaina and I didn't become fast friends there is a lesson here, not just for her and for me individually, but for all of us.