Old Friends and Faraway Places

Ever since we returned from Greece, Zach and I have been meaning to put together a book of photos and send them to Andreas, the shaman-like artist we met on Santorini.

We think of Andreas often, when we listen to the Greek music we first heard in his studio, or repeat the mantra he taught us, or admire one of the beautiful ceramics pieces of his that we brought home as keepsakes.

We hope to get back to Santorini and to see Andreas again someday. Until then, we thought we could at least send him photos we took of and with him, plus others from our trip. But we have never managed to do it.

A few weeks ago, our dear friend Lisa told us that she and her family were going to Greece this month. When we heard that they'd be visiting Santorini, we begged her to seek Andreas out—not only to send him our regards, but also because we knew that she'd really dig him, just as we had. We even sent her the photos we'd been meaning to send to him.

So we were absolutely overjoyed to receive this text message from Lisa first thing Thursday morning:

We are with Andreas. We delivered the pictures. He is very happy. I'm enjoying a glass of wine. . . .

Our hearts were very full all day, knowing that we'd finally been able to reach out to Andreas and let him know how much he has meant to us—and that Lisa and her family had had the experience of meeting this lovely, extraordinary man.