I’m having trouble even writing this post. The past few years have been a time of transition for all of us at the studio and we’ve been embracing some parts and dragging our feet on others. As a person who usually is energized by new shiny things, this news has hit me pretty hard, even though I kinda knew it was coming.
We’re losing both Carmen AND Lori. After almost 20 years, these beautiful ladies have to move on.
Carmen came into our lives through our children’s Montessori school. She came from Columbia and was here to follow her dream to become an American citizen. She only spoke Spanish to the children in the classroom and through this immersion, the kids all quickly became fairly fluent. Carmen bonded with the students right away and her positive energy, love of life, and the Lord made her an integral part of the the classroom experience.
After an unfortunate rift between the owners of the school that even more unfortunately took place when Carmen had returned home for the holidays, Carmen was fired by the vengeful and fighting school owners and stranded in Columbia without a return visa. She called us, heartbroken, and we were able to give her a job with our studio so that she could return to America.
That was almost 20 years ago. Since then, Carmen has earned her American citizenship, married, bought a new house, and has been not only a part of our team, but part of our hearts and family. If you have a framed print or piece of artwork in your home, Carmen framed it. If you have prints or albums, Carmen ordered it. If your son or daughter worked at Whitelake/BW Photography during an internship, Carmen probably trained them, all the while teaching some Spanish on the side. Because Carmen’s house is further away from our studio, she is only able to come in for special occasions (emergencies on our part) and we miss her dearly.
If you’ve ever called the studio, you’ve probably spoken to Lori. She’s the bright and bubbly voice who patiently answers the phone and even more patiently answers everyone’s questions. She answers all the emails, designs marketing campaigns, orders school packages, keeps Bryan in line and SO much more. Lori came to us the day her youngest son started kindergarten. She dropped him off and stopped by in answer to our ad for a receptionist. I loved her positive energy right away and like, Carmen, Lori has become so much more than a ‘receptionist’ - she’s the office manager, coach, cheerleader, friend and family member we never knew we needed. During the last almost 20 years, Lori’s four kids have grown up, some have married, some have moved away, and she’s now a grandmother! She and her husband are excited to be moving to be closer to her 2 grandchildren out of state.
I’m not sure how we are going to function without these 2 strong, incredible women. For sure, Bryan will have some adjusting to do, especially in the new office. We will never be able to replace them, but then again, we wouldn’t really want to. We’ve been honored to have Carmen and Lori with us as long as we have and we treasure their friendship.
Last week before the world changed, we got together for dinner and I presented Carmen and Lori with albums with as many photos as I could find of our adventures together. We’ve lived through so many things together - 9/11, the Great Recession of 2009, marriages, divorces, 3 studio moves, kids moving in and out, college graduations, and now, a global pandemic.
While I was excited to be able to find a lot of photos in a short amount of time (I had a week to get this together), I was also sad because I wanted MORE. Why didn’t we take the time to take more photos together? Why didn’t we stop for more time together? Because we’re human. We get busy. We let other things become more important. And now it’s too late.
I had plenty of photos to create albums and for us to reminisce with, but it was a wake up call to TAKE THE TIME. Stop for a photo, even if you feel like you don’t look good enough that day, even if you are embarrassed to stop and ask for a photo, even if you think you can do it another time. Because maybe…..you can’t.
I made a little video of pieces of their albums and their reactions. Please enjoy and please don’t forget to take photos of the ones you love!
Blayne White