As the approaching opening of the gallery crashes toward me, some 2/3 of the art from Haiti is in Mechanicsville, about three hours drive away from Lexington. It's okay -- how could I complain, as it made it here from Haiti at the absolute last minute, arrive last night with a generous volunteer who got dragged into the task just two weeks ago ... and has put in diligent service.
First, she loads all that stuff out of Haiti, including a giant box holding a dozen, handmade frames for my photographs. Then she calls -- twice, because I wasn't home the first time -- from Miami airport to tell me she and it all made it into the US. And then, late last night, after a week in Haiti and the day-long trip home, she called again to report that everything made it ... except the frames. But the airline expected them today.
Today, a series of calls as she updated me on the progress of the frames, which missed their first flight from Miami, then wandered off to Dallas (?), before finally arriving in Richmond this evening.
Meanwhile, my plans shifted from a midday dash from Lexington to Mechanicsville, to a late evening run, to finally an overnight trip, staying in The Jefferson in Richmond, before going to pick up the stuff in the morning. (Yeah, it didn't take much convincing from my wife to decide that staying at The Jefferson was a good idea; we've been here -- I'm writing from the dark wood desk in my room now -- a couple times before. It's a tiny luxury that's often too tempting to resist.)
Tomorrow, it's another run back in the morning to arrive before 1 pm, when we begin setting up the gallery ... stocked with stuff I haven't seen yet. But it's all worked out so far. All I can do is relax into the chaos...
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