although we had a lot of great entries for our Love Story Valentine’s Day contest (thank you for the huge response!) – the story of Carrie & Will really spoke to my heart (read below) Their story is full love, hope and is timeless. I’m so excited to do a session with them when they are reunited!

My name is Carrie, and I’m in love with a man named Will.  The story of how we met isn’t all that unusual.  We were out at a local restaurant on a Friday night and were introduced by mutual friends.  There was instant chemistry and within a few short months, I had fallen head over heels.  What makes our story so wonderful is the road we’ve been on since we met.  Will is in the Coast Guard.  I am a small town girl, working for my family’s business in Salisbury, MD.  I grew up here; my entire family is here; my life is here.  Will left his family in Florida and after boot camp was stationed in Crisfield, MD for four years.  And somehow, despite living in such a rural area, we did not meet until he was waiting for orders to where his career would take him next.  Those orders came after only a few months of dating, and he came to my house with a bottle of wine to tell me where he had been assigned.  He was assigned to a Coast Guard cutter in Kodiak, Alaska.  My heart dropped.  I couldn’t imagine a place in the US further away from me.  We knew it would be hard, and neither one of us had ever believed in long distance relationships, but we also knew that we had something so special and could not let anything stop us from being together.  I took some time off work, and we traveled across North America together.  We spent two weeks driving from Salisbury, Maryland to Homer, Alaska and stopped to explore a few US and Canadian cities along the way.  It was in Homer that my flight back to Maryland and his ferry boat to Kodiak Island both departed.  He drove me to the airport, and we had to say goodbye.  We were unsure of when he would be able to take leave or when we would be able to see each other again.  It was one of the most difficult days in both of our lives.  But we both believed in what we shared. 

Will is stationed in Kodiak until the summer of 2011.  He took leave and came to visit me for three weeks over the holidays, and on December 23, 2009, he asked me to be his wife.  It will be the greatest honor in my life to marry him.  From 5000 miles away, he makes me feel loved and taken care of every single day.   We have now been apart for over seven months, and we have just over fifteen months until he moves back and we will get married.  Even though he’s gone, my life is better every day with him a part of it. 

So that’s our story.  I hope that we are evidence that in a modern world, old fashioned love still exists.  Happy Valentine’s Day.

Congratulations Carrie & Will – I can’t wait to meet you!