43. Drachenlady77

In 2017 I was an avid Flickr poster. Flickr was a cool site because it attracted real photographers (and me). They have probably all migrated over to Instagram these days, but at the time, Flickr was the place.

Maybe because the photo was the thing, it was fun and easy to make friends. You would comment on a photo you liked, and they would comment back.

You would give your photo a title like “On the Way to Work” And people would say cool photo-things like:

• “I love the illumination”

• “Beautiful texture”

• “Great capture”

And if you were really lucky (which I occasionally was) they would say “Congrats on Explore” which meant your picture made it into the favorites of the day, and bazillions of other Flickrites got a chance to see it.

 One of the friends I made was Drachenlady77.  And when I say “I” I actually mean “Greg” because he is very charming and charismatic even on a website and was probably the reason for most of my Flickr friends.

Drachenlady77 lived in Germany, and we would comment back and forth pretty much every day, along with a little gang of regulars from all over the world.

Anyway, even though I haven’t been in touch with her for years, I was thinking of Drachenlady77 the other day when I looked down at my feet and saw the socks she knitted. They are beautiful and hand knitted and sent to me by a German-lady-friend I have never met.

That is the kind of spontaneity I love.

Why do I love this? Because someone I have never met sat around for days or weeks making something for me just for the fun of it. Because we met each other on a website. Because I admired her work. Because we made a connection.