cheese

it's sunday night and we just came back from our engagement photo session-- over the past two hours we've had a camera aimed at us more than we have in the past ten years combined! we tend to be the ones behind the camera most of the time, so we were both a bit nervous about the idea of a full photo shoot focused on us (this was part of the point, of course: to get over those nerves before september).

paul and brenda came out to northampton, and we spent the afternoon ambling around town and the campus of smith college. they took tons of photos, and were full of ideas. it was a good chance to get to know our photographers and their working style better, and to get more comfortable in front of the camera (something i have never been, despite growing up with a photographer dad). it also meant a lot to be able to capture a bit of our life here in northampton. it was a great day-- we had fun, took the time to enjoy each other, and soaked up a glorious may afternoon.

as of yesterday, the forecast for today was grim: cold, rainy, gray. yesterday was raw, and i couldn't imagine getting good photos in that kind of biting weather. we talked about canceling and rescheduling (again-- we already canceled once, back in april), or doing the photos when we were in albany. i fretted about what to do, pat calmed me down and we examined our options. we ultimately decided to stick with our plan: things would work out the way they were meant to, or so pat promised.

as paul and brenda arrived in our parking lot, the clouds were getting ready to pack up and call it a day. for the rest of the afternoon the sun stuck around, with a few bouts of just the right amount of overcast to make for good lighting. the temperature shot up 10 degrees and hovered around 65. our faith paid off, and we ended up with the perfect afternoon. it would be nice if just having faith were enough to guarantee this kind of weather luck on our wedding day!

we have a way of balancing each other out-- we don't always fall into the same roles, but we nearly always center each other. this time around it was my turn to worry and fret and attempt to plan the unplannable (i think i just made up that word). it was patrick's turn to remain calm, to lay out all the options, and to bring some logic to the situation. in the end, he was right on: things worked out the way they were meant to work out.