The Perfect One
He
found the camera on Craigslist. He had been looking for quite some
time and it just never felt right. When he found this one, somehow he just knew it was "the one". I
am convinced that it was really the person that gained his attention
more than it was the camera, or at least a combination of the two. He
talked about it for a day, mostly about how great it was that
the man was a photography professor at university. "He seems sincere,
thoughtful. He understands. I know it is just Craigslist..." Once we both gave the green light, he sent the email.
With
only one car, he sent me to meet with the Professor. I found myself in
downtown San Jose, sitting at a corner table in a Starbucks waiting
for... Well, I wasn't actually sure who he was. Z told me to look for
the man in the blue shirt and much to my surprise, there were five men
in different shades of blue. I looked around and studied each one,
looking for anything that might resemble a camera box. I almost felt like some sort of criminal or maybe a
detective, I don't know, so I stopped and waited. At 3:30, I looked out
the front door and saw an older man in a blue button down shirt. I knew
it had to be him. I walked out, looked his way, and before I could say a
word, "Roxi? Hi! My name is Brian!"
We sat down at a table and that's where we would stay for the next hour. We talked photography but I had to admit to him that I was not so knowledgeable. So he spoke about his art and I spoke about Z's. Photography led us to education. We talked about young minds. Creativity. The teacher life. Being aware. How having a "No Computer" policy IS a good idea. People, especially younger people, have such a hard time connecting with others sometimes. Because most of the time, there is a screen in the way. The "brick wall" of this generation is technology. I know it is a good thing but not when you can no longer be present. History, art, so many other areas demand that we be present. That we engage. He told me I had an old soul and I said thank you.
At the end of our time together, he told me that he wished Z could have been there with us. I wished the same. I told him thank you, snapped his photo with our new camera, and we went our separate ways.