”He didn’t want to wear the suspenders…” she leaned over and whispered to me. “He says they’re uncomfortable. And he’s worried what his friends are going to think. I think he looks amazing…” she concluded. I glanced over and grinned at Nikki as she played with the flower in her hand, plucking each delicate petal away in her own private game of loves me, loves me not. “Oh yeah,” she continued, “and we think Christian got a concussion in a soccer game this afternoon”.  Just like that. As if getting their oil changed was bigger news. “A concussion?!” I asked, all the while watching Christain climb into a tree. Per my request I might add. Grrreeat. For a moment I could practically read the headlines. WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER SHUT DOWN AFTER CLIENT WITH CONCUSSION FALLS FROM TREE! “He had such potential” they would say. Months later I would be seen on the corner of 6th and Congress wearing an Uncle Sam costume spinning one of those huge “Taxes filed here” signs round and round, shaking my booty to Vanilla Ice. People would honk and throw empty soda cans out their windows at me. My mother would be sooo proud.

Thankfully Christian didn’t fall and in the end that glazed over expression on his face wasn’t as much a brain bleed as it was love. The truth of the matter is that he is crazy for her, and if wearing suspenders and climbing trees will make her happy he will gladly do just that. And pray that his friends will still think he’s The Man tomorrow…