I have been very fortunate in my life to meet so many beautiful and diverse people both through my travels and my profession. I am also fortunate that I like people and am willing to take a chance in entering a portal to meet people who have different lived experiences, cultures and beliefs and look different than me. And in sop doing, I have been rewarded with friendships that last have lasted for decades.

One of those portals was when I became editor of The Madison Times in 1999 when the late — and great — Betty Franklin-Hammonds, who was the editor/publisher, passed away. Betty’s right-hand person, her assistant editor, was Heidi Pascual, an immigrant from The Philippines. Heidi and I had much in common, I came to learn, including a strong work ethic and admiration for Betty.

While I had written for The Madison Times, I had never worked for a newspaper. And here I was the editor-in-chief. Heidi, in her own delicate way, showed me a lot of the ins and outs of running the paper.

One of the portals that appeared through The Madison Times was the opportunity to attend and photograph the first traditional Indian wedding held at Monona Terrace. The daughter of Shree and Lakshmi Sridharan, Anjali, was getting married. And Shree was aware of The Madison Times — and perhaps knew Heidi — and invited us to the wedding, which was held over a long weekend at Monona Terrace. It was a beautiful and quite colorful wedding with those in attendance dressed in traditional Indian garb. And the Sridharans have been friends of Heidi and mine ever since.