Monday, August 8, 2011

What is a Photographer Worth?

Mister and I just enjoyed the 8th anniversary of love at initial ocular recognition.  In August of 2003 following fervent recommendations from my roommate and co-workers, Andrew decided to casually comparison shop my romantic possibilities on an unannounced visit to my home. 


Unbeknownst to Andrew, I was in my bedroom, on the phone, in the process of breaking up with my current boyfriend.  And soon to be ex was throwing down some exceptional vocabulary
(fickle, capricious, coquettish) with jilted malice in response to my decision to conclude our relationship on a cellular basis.  But I couldn't ignore the visceral throb to act immediately.   

I shortly emerged from my bedroom in tear sogged pajamas, matted hair, and melted mascara to see my future husband on the couch.  And I recognized this man I had never met immediately: he was my husband.  I thought to myself, self, this is why we had to break up, over the phone, in a hurry.  Now we can retreat back to our room and hide under the comforter, or we can wipe the snot off our cheeks and make the best of it.  So I did. 
  
As Andrew got in the car that evening, he called his mom and told her he had met the girl he was going to marry.  She told him to do it at Christmas so that the extended family wouldn't have to pay for extra flights.  And being a doting son, he did marry me, five months later.
From there we searched out Coco, miraculously received Levi after seven years of infertility, and couldn't be happier.  Trite but true.

Serendipitously, Kristen Duke, helped us to commemorate our special date (see the rest of the shoot aquí).  I couldn't be more grateful; the woman is worth her weight in pegasus feathers.

And then she told me I could take a decent photo too!  She sells her own little e-book, so I got myself my own little  edition.  Feel free to copy me, I won‘t mind.

In the meantime, how did you meet your Mister?

19 comments:

  1. Happy anniversary! Love the pictures and story!

    We met at church, the day before I started my two year internship.

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  2. What beautiful pictures, and an even lovelier story!

    I saw my husband walk into church with my former roommate, and after admiring the back of his head for an hour, asked my roommate to introduce us (they were in the same training class for their new job). We all had dinner a few days later, and by the end of the week we were inseparable. A week later he learned that he would be moving to TX when his training ended 6 months later (we were in DC), and I told him that not only would I not move somewhere for a guy, I refused to have a long distance relationship. Long story short, we got engaged, I got a job, and moved to TX even before he did. So far, he's taken me to TX, Washington, DC and now Guinea, and we've only just gotten started. It's been an adventure.

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  3. what a great story! and such a beautiful family. :)

    happy anniversary! here's to many more years of happiness and love.

    ps. i owe you an email. haven't forgotten!

    oh! and my fiance and i were high school sweethearts. separated by life and different paths for about 10 years...then we reconnected...and things couldn't be better!

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  4. Happy anniversary lady! Beautiful photos!!

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  5. I love "meeting the love of your life" stories!

    My husband and I were both in the chorale in college, but we didn't meet until the Homecoming game my freshman year, when we were waiting to sing the alma mater. Mutual friends introduced us. He carried a torch for me while we became friends, but it was pretty quick - less than two months later we were dating, and within a couple more months, we knew that we would be together forever.

    [Lovely coincidence: my word verification for this comment is "bless."]

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  6. These are such cute pictures. My husband and I were sort of set up by his brother when he came home from his mission. We hit it off and were dating two weeks later.

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  7. Happy anniversary!

    We met at the Provo Courthouse... I was a news reporter and he was a clerk.

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  8. Love the first-meeting story and the beautiful photographs! I feel a little kinship to you and Andrew as my mister and I were married on the same day as you two and in the same place! :) I hope your lovely family continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

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  9. And, AND, I almost forgot, Jane and Coco were born within like a month of eachother. How could I forget that?!

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  10. What a wonderful story! You are a beautiful family. Congratulations!

    I met my husband of 13 years one evening after my then co-workers coerced me into hanging out with them. To think of what I would have missed had I not agreed to go!

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  11. Beautiful pictures, and a truly beautiful story! <3

    My man and I are high school sweethearts. We met when we were 15 and had the great good fortune to grow together, not apart. I think, after 10 years of marriage, it's safe to say it's the real deal. :)

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  12. My "How I Met The Mister" posts (there are three) are some of my most popular blog posts! I guess everyone loves a love story. Yours was awesome. :)

    p.s. You can read mine on my blog. They're on the right hand side under favorite posts.

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  13. I am so glad you met and married because not only are you the most adorable family, but if you hadn't met sir andrew, you probably would have never moved to arizona and then I would be thinking right now "what part of my life is missing" and would have no idea it was you.

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  14. I met Papa and "The Wagon Wheel" were I was flipping burgers for your Grandpa for free just because he thought I should. But the payoff was worth it. 43 years later and I still suffer from GWS.

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  15. Beautiful family! Love your story.

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  16. I loved reading this post! Happy Anniversary! The pictures are beautiful!

    In our sea of love

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  17. These photos are perfect! Talented photographer and beautiful family.

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