All Over Ephraim | Nancy and Nate's Engagement Session

I currently have one tattoo; it’s of a funny looking maple tree with an abnormally tall trunk, the silhouette of a young boy perched among barren limbs, and a single crimson leaf content to pass the time. If you asked me what it means, I’d probably begin by giving context of where I was in my life before getting the tattoo, a brief coming-of-age story, and the desire to make grand decisions with permanent effects.

Eventually I’d get to the point of your question and reveal that the tattoo has no meaning. It’s a dynamic metaphor, and its meaning changes every day. How did the boy climb such a tall tree without access to lower branches? What is he doing there (waiting, thinking, hiding, relaxing)? What does he think of the leaf? What does the leaf think of him? What will come next for this unlikely pair? With so many unanswered questions, a simple tattoo has kept me entertained five years and counting.

Looking back, I find it poetic that Nancy noticed my tattoo while standing beside Nate under a maple tree (she saw the extended trunk under my rolled sleeve and asked if it was a wand from Harry Potter). How have Nancy and Nate’s lives brought them to this point under the tree? How do they feel about each other as their fingers intertwine? Where will their journey bring them next?

With a click of a shutter, the newly captured image evoked similar questions as the one etched in my forearm, but where the wonder of my tattoo relied on its questions remaining unanswered, the magic of Nancy and Nate emerged because theirs were being solved. The next step? Their wedding.