Couples Session. Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Prattville, Alabama

Cathy and I have known each other for almost a year now. We met through a strength training class at the Y. When I told her I was a photographer, she said she had been considering doing a session of her and her husband so they could gift the photos to their children for Christmas. I fell in love with the idea. We set the date well in advance hoping the weather would cooperate. Sure enough, the Alabama summer finally decided to subside just a few days before the session. The weather was PERFECT.

I’m so glad they picked the location. Steve is an avid golfer and obviously, his favorite place is the golf course. This was my first time here and I was blown away by the landscape. We got in our little cart and drove over rolling green hills, wooden bridges, and took in amazing views. I wanted to stop at every turn, but had to show some serious restraint.

As I looked at what we got during the session, I kept thinking of quotes that would capture what I was feeling. Here are a few,

“What will matter is that I had you, and you had me.”

“A perfect marriage is two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other.”

And, although this following quote is not originally shared between husband and wife, I couldn’t help but think of it as Cathy reminded me that they were military, and that Alabama was the place they had decided to settle after he retired. “For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

Seeing them together in these images, and watching my own mom and dad who have celebrated 48 years together so far, gives me so much hope. Marriage is hard. Really hard. But, walking together for so many years and seeing the fruit of that commitment to each other no matter what makes it so worth it.

Not only do testimonies of marriages like this make me long for when Anselmo and I are “older and wiser”, but I’ve also shared Cathy’s fitness journey with others. Would you believe me if I told you she trained for and ran her first marathon when she was, get this, 57? Fifty-seven! I’m always creating excuses, but she kind of wiped all of those off the board. She and Steve are running a 5K together next month. (Insert mouth drop now.) Now, those are couple goals, am I right?