People have been asking me if I will miss Maria when she goes to India in February, and that is a bit like asking me if I would miss the sun and the light and the color if they all went away. She is my sun, I suppose, she is always so ready to love and to laugh.

I know what the absence of those things means.

I have never been loved in this way before, these years with Maria have been the best of my life, so it will be strange to be so far apart. We have separate work and clear boundaries around them, but or time together has been pure joy and meaning. It is healthy to be apart sometimes, and this trip is her thing, not mine. I don’t belong.

I will miss her,  of course, but I will be very happy when she gets to India and teachers these women how to make her wonderful potholders. She is very excited to have been asked.

I’m already pondering how to run the farm by myself in February, it will be exciting, I am quite comfortable with it, I did it for years. The only help I might need is in snowstorms. I have the best  back-up there is, Red and Fate…well, Red, anyway. Fate will keep me smiling.

The odd thing is I want her to go on this trip to India as much as I have ever wanted anything. Is this selfish in some way, I don’t really know yet. Her work is hers, but her happiness and accomplishment feel like mine sometimes as well.

Maria has all kinds of plans to raise money for this trip She is planning a Dream Quilt which she will raffle to the highest bidder, she is thinking of bring tote bags and potholders back from India, perhaps signed by the sex workers and their children, the people she will be  teaching there. She is checking out grant applications, exploring crowdsourcing sites. She will share all of this on her blog as it develops.

Yesterday, we figured out she needs at least $6,000 for this trip to happen – airfare, hotel, visa, food, supplies, vaccinations, equipment and fabrics. expenses.

We gulped and committed ourselves to this cause – teaching sex workers, some formerly enslaved for years, to learn how to make some of the things Maria makes – potholders in particular – so they can earn a living in Calcutta. Maria began accepting mailed and Paypal donations in response to the messages from many people saying they wished to help. You can help if you wish, and right now. One woman wrote and jeered that this is cyber-begging, maybe so, but in the best possible cause.

You can send checks to Maria/India Trip, c/o Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. We will do everything we can to raise as much money as we can ourselves, but we can’t raise $6,000 by ourselves, especially in the time we have.  I suppose it is sometimes nice to be wealthy.

I am donating all of the money I have made from taking portraits and from my upcoming Portrait Show in September at the Round House Cafe. So far, I can cover the $500 registration fee. And I will certainly share the experience on the blog.

We thought it appropriate to give Maria’s many friends and customers and the readers of both of our blogs a chance to contribute first and directly – the crowdsourcing sites reach a broader audience, but they take as much as seven percent of the contributions. You can also contribute to her directly via Paypal – [email protected], please note that it is for the India trip. And thanks to those who have already contributed.

This idea has struck a deep chord, deeper than any I have written about.

I believe Maria will get to make this trip, an affirmation both of her and of this very powerful cause, the women and their children in Calcutta are in desperate need of this kind of support. Thanks for thinking about it, thanks for helping. Mara/India Trip, c/o Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.