by Lené Gary

“write the day—you were here—
write the day you were most yourself
—write—i can thank you for that—
write you went the beautiful way—
you made time—you knew how to get
things done and it touched everyone here at least once—”

Jen Bervin, The Silver Book

In the fall of 2011, following the dissolution of a long-term relationship, I returned to Montpelier, Vermont. I didn’t have many friends in the area, but that soon changed, thanks to a gentleman named Ryan Kriger.

Kriger was systematically creating a young professionals social network and had invited me to join. Several of us met weekly at one of the local bars for drinks and hors d’oeuvres. We were all relatively new to one another, and many of us were new to Montpelier. We were also all unmarried, and none of us were raising children. It was possible for us to socialize on any evening of the week and at the last minute.

We bonded quickly. By 2012, we were a solid group of 20-25 people hosting family-styled holiday dinners and ringing in the New Year together. We celebrated the completion of PhDs, the passing of board exams, the success of local theater productions when one of our friends was performing, and each person’s birthday. If there was a party on Saturday night, you could count on Sunday brunch at Judy’s.

This photo collection is a glimpse into some of the bonds that were formed during that beautiful yet ephemeral period of our lives.

Three of the five women have since married, and another has brought a sweet boy into this world. We no longer all live in Montpelier, meet on Wednesdays, gather improvisationally downtown or at the farmer’s market, or share brunch as often, but I think it’s safe to say that each of our lives has been forever changed by that brief and singular time we shared in Montpelier.

Lené Gary lives in the Green Mountains of Vermont. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Some of her work can be found in Whole Terrain, Days: The Best of Tupelo Press 30/30 Project’s First Year, Please Do Not Remove, Open Doors: Stories from Wildlife Nation, Birchsong: Poetry Centered in Vermont, Poemeleon, Limestone, Watershed, Connotation Press, Sage, and M Review. When she’s not writing or taking photographs, she can be found paddling her well-worn Mad River canoe. Follow her on Twitter at @leneagary or find her on LinkedIn.