Agathos Dorea

She walks to work but she’s still in a daze
She’s Rita Hayworth or Doris Day
And, someday, Erroll Flynn’s gonna take her away

~Ray Davies

I met the most fascinating woman while I was taking photographs in the tall-grass prairie town of Plainview, NE. After a formal introduction, I came to learn that she and her husband were the proprietors of the Johnson Hotel–an iconic structure that’s been standing watch on main street for more than a century. Just moments before our introduction, it was impossible not to notice her as she came shuffling curiously down the sidewalk in bare feet–no doubt on high-alert after discovering that there was a stranger with a camera kicking around on the concrete in front of her property.

After I introduced myself and we got to talking, it was easy to see that she was a beautiful soul–one of those rare people with both backbone and heart; someone who had survived the baptism-by-fire experience that inevitably comes with moving a family from the refined comforts of the big city and taking on the enormous task of refurbishing an old hotel and restaurant.

But conversations with strangers are funny things in the sense that the words that are being spoken usually don’t tell the whole story.

Falling deeper into conversation, I could hear the genuine emotion in her voice as she spoke of the Hotel’s history and her experiences in taking on such an ambitious project. But the more we talked, the more I could sense a whole host of emotions that ran much deeper. Maybe it was a tinge of disillusionment–small town living can take a toll on outsiders. Or it could have been fatigue; spending years toiling on an undertaking of this magnitude is bound take a little wind out of the sails. Or maybe, just maybe, it was a longing that someone would blow into town and take the whole thing off their hands.

As the conversation ended, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad–to this day, I’m not really sure why.

To my new friends in Plainview, I’ll probably never know where your journey takes you. But if you ever read this entry, I want you know that I think you are remarkable in your resolve and I have great admiration for your courage in chasing down a dream. I hope you pull it off.