Our last morning in Maine was an epic one. It was just before dusk as I tiptoed across the old wooden floors toward the kitchen to heat the tea kettle. When I swung open the screen door a cold, salty breeze wrapped itself around my shoulders, painting a layer of goosebumps all the way to my ankles. It was my favorite kind of morning, the kind that moccasins and lazy sweaters were made for. The kind for hot coffee and slow wake ups, the kind that turn into shockingly warm summer afternoons and end in dark, chilly skies blanketing the town with the faint smell of fall and the promise of winter.
I propped open the door and turned back into the warm glow of the house to collect my gear. Balancing my bags across my arms, my bare feet stepped off of the porch and awkwardly balanced atop the damp, uneven stones of the driveway as I made my way to the Jeep. The morning light had just begun to slip over the horizon and the sky was turning the softest shade of blue, I organized everything in the passenger seat and turned back toward the house just as the kettle began to sing across the drive. With a steaming mug of green tea in hand I zipped up my sweater, walked right past the towel I had laid out in hopes of remembering and gently shut the side-door.
The drive to Shirttail Point was a short one, made longer only by my surprisingly successful attempt at not spilling the contents of my mug across my lap. I made it down the bumpy dirt road to the water and right away I knew this was going to be magical. There was a stillness unique only to these early hours of the day; the only movement coming from a cloud of fog delicately rolling off of the lake’s edge and the dusty ground displaced by my tires. Rachelle and Forest pulled in just after I did and the three of us made our way toward the lake.
It’s hard to know where to even start with these two. Rachelle and Forest are one of those couples with a love that feels tangible when you witness it. Even in the 47 degree morning air, shivering upon sand that felt like glacial ice beneath our feet, Forest’s eyes were overcome with adoration with every glance in his wife’s direction. Rachelle absolutely lit up within his arms; every smile directed at him was radiant and all consuming. It may have been a cold, shiver-inflicting morning, but I still hope you can see their spark in these photographs.
Thank you both for your adventurous spirits and your willingness to freeze for a sunrise swim to create with me, (and of course, for lending me your towel).
This right here, this is why I believe you don’t need a special occasion to document your connection.
It doesn’t have to be an engagement or anniversary session. This is is two people, married for nearly three years, who have explored, laughed and grown together. This is two people so full of love that even the coldest of swims are joyful. This is why I document marriage, even on the most seemingly mundane of days.
