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Natalie & Eugene’s Engagement

Anytime I get to walk through Central Park it reminds me of my old running route. I’d start at West 112th Street and run down Broadway to 79th Street, cut across the avenues past the Museum of Natural History, and stop at a pull up bar near the Great Lawn to do some calisthenic exercises. I’d continue my run south towards Sheep Meadow to play Ultimate Frisbee with one of the best communities I’ve ever known. I’d eventually make my way back to the west side strolling by Bethesda Fountain, past the Bow Bridge, and along my favorite path on the south side of The Central Park Lake, the body of water where tourists take out the cute paddle boats. I can’t help but think about this time of my life without a great longing, reminiscing about the freedom of my twenties. It seems that no matter how old I am I always ‘[\want to be somewhere else or be older or younger. It makes me beg the question: is there any way to get over this “grass is always greener” mindset over the course of our lives?

Heather and I met Eugene over the summer at one of our friend’s going away parties, but this was the first time we met Natalie. We connected with them through our mutual friend, John, who went to Marymount Manhattan College with Eugene. We didn’t expect John to come along for the engagement session in Central Park but there he was, giving Eugene style tips and busting his chops like a good friend and quintessential best man. We started the shoot at Bethesda Fountain, dabbled in the Mall between street performers and skateboarders, then finished up by The Lake and Bow Bridge because Eugene and Natalie are set to get married at the Loeb Boathouse in just a few short months.

Eugene and Natalie have one of those quiet connections, and according to them it’s been there since their very first date. One of the questions we ask on the questionnaire we send over to our couples is: “When did you realize that you loved your significant other?” Well, for Eugene and Natalie, all it took was one date, because afterwards they jokingly referred to each other as ‘husband’ and ‘wife.’ The way they interact with one another is intimate but casual, conversational and playful. There is an understanding beneath their every exchange that made them very easy to photograph through our walk in Central Park. We all decided to grab a drink on the Upper West Side afterwards.

The most unfortunate thing about love is that it all comes down to timing. The kind of understanding that Eugene and Natalie and Heather and I have all stems from meeting someone at a particular time in our lives when each of us 1) had a strong idea of who we were as individuals, and 2) had a strong idea of what we wanted our significant other to be like. The alignment of these two factors is critical to a healthy relationship with any hope of longevity. A lot of us spend most of our lives trying to figure our “who we are” and a lot of us are too wracked with doubt and insecurity to effectively learn what a good partner for our particular needs looks like. Every time I try to explain how Heather and I have such a working, loving relationship, there is a feeling of an insurmountably large chasm between being alone and being where we are. The best thing I can suggest is to start with a better understanding of yourself.

Despite always feeling like “the grass is always greener” most of my life, I can confidently say I am thoroughly enjoying my thirties. Heather and I have hit a stride in our business, and we have one happy, healthy boy. I still get frustrated and am overtired most of the time, but once I hear Capa giggle or see him peacefully sleeping any sort of bullshit stress just washes away. Capa helps ground me in a way that makes life feel finite for the first time. For as long as I can remember I’ve always felt that I’m going to live forever—and each day and year that passes its hard to wrap my mind around all that has changed—that is until you see a newborn baby become a ten-month-old. We all grow older everyday and it is up to us to appreciate the green grass beneath our feet.