“It’s good enough, Doug!”

Libby knew from much experience what it was like to be the left brain of the creative process she and her husband shared. He, always in the middle of the action; she the unnoticed bookends keeping things in place.

So here they were, in Guatemala, working like two hamsters on the same wheel – except they actually were getting somewhere – and making a lot of people happy along the way. Doug and Libby Eaton (with the very clever ‘garden of eaton’ email addy), from Nashville, Tennessee. And were they ever a great team.

Doug was everywhere, all the time it seemed, with one kind of camera or another. Yet it was like he wasn’t. The mark of an excellent video guy – can be right in your face and you don’t even notice him. I half expected to see him drop upside down from the branch of a tree in order to get just the right shot of the day.

Libby was right there with him some of the time. Other times off doing other tasks. But when our clinic days ended, their work seemed to crank up a notch or two. And always together. There would be the Macbook, video camera, another electronic gadget or two, and cords everywhere. But to them, it all made perfect sense, and zip zap out would come a nicely edited video. How did they do that?!? Hot, dusty conditions – bumpy van rides – people all around them once we got back to our lodging base. Amazing!

Doug being the artist – never quite satisfied. Libby reining him in with the practicality of the situation. Give – take. Push – shove. Yet somehow always in harmony. They get along really well, which is nice to see in this day and age especially.

Then when the rest of the team would be vegging, or playing basketball, off they’d go to the internet cafe in town to upload their latest creation for people all over the USA (maybe the world) to see. Uploading from an internet cafe in Guatemala is not a fast process either. Patiently the task would be managed, and finally sometime later in the night, they’d get back and hit the rack. They put in a lot of hours – and a lot of love.

Their energy, I’m thinking of hamsters again, seemed never ending. At least until we were riding somewhere in a van at night, and then they were head against head, in some kind of deep sleep trance. Two peas in a pod as were fond of saying down here in Tennessee.

There was another amazing little magic show Libby and Doug performed most every day. Well, the only thing that was ‘little’ about it was the piece of hitech equipment they used. The rest was pure magic – and on a big scale for most of the rural Guatemalans on the receiving end. Either Doug or Libby would take a digital shot of someone, then dock the camera with this little printer, and SHAZAM!, out would print the photo, ready to take home and frame!

I often had the feeling that many of these people had maybe never seen a picture of themselves, and if they had, it hadn’t been one that was taken two minutes ago. They smiled even bigger when Libby and Doug would hand them the print. Magic of the very blessed kind …