Yesterday’s afternoon family session in Old Lyme with Tosh and Keith was a salve for my chapped soul, at a time right when I needed it. I remember a few years back when I was working a wedding at one of my favorite little Inns, The Bee and Thistle Inn with Tosh at the helm. She told me she had ventured into the world of online dating. we commiserated about our perceived lack of just, good, real people out there in the complicated web of online dating. It certainly felt hopeless to me, and so I stopped. Not Tosh. She met Keith, went on a date and told me maybe one or two dates later that she was DONE. She had found her fella! Now many people will insert their eye roll here or shake their heads sagely thinking they know better than Tosh, she just has to wait and see how this one will fall apart like they all inevitably seem to. I mean, that was certainly my experience anyway. I was jaded AF about finding my person, but there was something in the way that Tosh spoke about Keith that I just knew she was right when she said it.
And she was!
Tosh and Keith gave me renewed hope about love and friendship and just being who you really are with the right person. I had dealt with my share of duds and losers and man I was burnt OUT on love… but Tosh’s infectious glow caught me on fire again and I had hope burning bright and deep in my belly! (Turns out, I did find my person online too- but that’s for another post)
During their family session being with Tosh, Keith and fresh to the world Baby Beckett Wilder was such a full circle moment for me. I was there before Tosh met Keith. I was there during. I was there for their wedding, photographing and crying and just loving on them both so hard. I was almost there for their maternity session but Tosh didn’t feel great so we waited until little bebe Beckett arrived. As I held this precious little boy I was filled with so much love for all of them. Love and hope. For all of us. If you are reading this and feel alone and you haven’t found your person, don’t give up, I promise you! Tosh is one of the most amazing women, so quirky and funny as all hell. I am obsessed with her, truly. On their wedding day Keith gave her a silver engraved spoon for her coleslaw, along with a small bowl of coleslaw because he knows her so well and she loves it so much. Loneliness be damned: we can all find someone to give us a coleslaw spoon on our wedding day!
What a gift their friendship has been to me, even though we don’t see one another in the flesh as often as we would like to. Now they are new parents, ready to love on their little son Beckett Wilder and sing to him deeply and loudly and just kiss kiss kiss that little squish so much. It filled my heart. That visit soothed my heart as I stood in their living room surrounded by images that we all created together on their wedding day. Images from their engagement session. Them together, happy, laughing, in love.
I am so excited to continue our journey together as their photographer and their friend for life!
Check out their wedding at the Copper Beech Inn in Ivoryton CT HERE
We joked about how they are now officially ‘legacy clients’ of mine, and well, they are! This is something that I hope to have more of my clients partake in with me, where I become their official photographer for life. It isn’t about finding the best deal out there, it’s more about finding that connection to someone who has seen you through it all- your engagement, your wedding, perhaps your maternity and now with your growing family. Not only that, but your images will have a beautiful consistency to them and after a few sessions you can have them all bound into a gorgeous book! That’s what I do with my kids, and I can’t tell you how much they love looking through it! Stay tuned for some October dates for a fall mini session post!
To see more family sessions with Carla Ten Eyck, click the links below:
Hope’s Spring Maternity session in Hartford
Snow Day Portraits with my Very Own Children in Elizabeth Park
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