For Charlane

I heard the news today of my blogging friend and photographer, Charlane, and it broke my heart to hear that she’s gone. The only consolation I have is that she’s with her beloved mother in heaven.

I met Char online and I have no recollection how I arrived on her site just over two years ago, but her photography instantly blew me away and inspired me. She confided in me once that growing up, she despised the name Charlane but as an adult she came to accept it. I told her I thought it was beautiful and unique.

I think that really surprised her.

When she opened her etsy shop, I asked her to list the photograph you see below. I’d seen it on her Flickr site and had always admired it. Of course, my photo of it here doesn’t do justice to it at all. I have it framed under glass. But it will now hold a deeper meaning for me when I look at it every day.




To know that I’ll never be able to visit her in her imaginary triangle house on the beach “where children laugh and adults giggle and the air smells like warm cinnamon cookies baking in the oven” is hard on my soul.

For now, I will imagine that sweet Southern girl in heaven with her mama, having a simple lunch by the sea and watching the waves dance as the salt air makes their hair wild and wooly and they laugh belly laughs that make their sides ache. (these are basically her words, from a post written recently.)

I loved her photography. I loved her writing. I loved her sweet e-mails. And I, among so many others, will sadly miss her.