Kelsie is the daughter of Kelly, who owns and runs Jean’s Place, my favorite place to eat in the mornings and for lunch out. Kelsie is a welcome addition to my portrait collection of Strong Women.

I will have a Strong Women photo show one day, a longstanding dream of mine.

I choose my Strong Women Portraits by the way someone looks right into the eye of the camera and dares me to hit the shutter.

No primping, no fussing about being shy, no self-consciousness about looks.

Kelsie isn’t just a person; she is a presence.

She has a power inside of her; she projects both strength and compassion, which is something few men in my life do.

I hardly know Kelsie, but I am fond of her. Somehow, we get each other, and I see how important Jean’s Place is to the community around it. When they say they care about their customers, they mean it, Jean’s Place is a powerful antidote to the bloodless and profit-obsessed corporations taking over the country.

Sometimes she cooks, sometimes she waits tables. She works long hours almost every day.

She knows almost every person who comes in by name and circumstance; her gruff demeanor is undercut by the tenderness and care she shows her customers, who she calls “my family.”

This morning, Maria went off to have breakfast with her mother, and I was on my own. I had to go to Bennington to food shop, and Jean’s is on the way, so I stopped for one of their most excellent egg cheese on a muffin breakfast sandwiches (with home fries.)

I’ve finally learned to order the egg n’cheese properly, although I’m still tentative, I was told. Kelsie was supposed to go to Florida for five days, but the flight was canceled due to bad weather. She was disappointed but brushed it off.

I’m always surprised by how comfortable I am at Jean’s. It does feel like family, and Kelsie is a big part of that. I am delighted to enter her into the Strong Woman Gallery.

And grateful to be “in the family.”