I’ll set the scene. I’m on holiday, the first as a family of four. My 4 month old daughter is strapped to the front of me, and I’m walking (ok struggling) up St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall. In the corner of my eye I see a couple, set aside from the rest of the crowd in a secluded corner on the outside of the castle, which overlooks the beautiful Cornish coast. They were having a cuddle, and you could tell just from that cuddle that something pretty special had just happened between them. Now I wasn’t certain at this point that my assumptions were right but the thought that I had just strolled (struggled) passed a couple getting engaged in such a beautiful place did two things to me. Firstly, I went all goosepimpley (this seems to be my default reaction to all things truly wonderful, I often get them at weddings) and secondly I instantly felt a bit gutted. Gutted that in a different ‘sliding doors’ kind of world, I would have been walking 2 mins slower and actually seen this couple getting engaged, and had my hands free and my camera ready to capture the moment. Instead my hands and head were busy in mum mode and I was quickly refocused on my son who kept running off and doing impromptu shows….on the edge of rocks!
The moment passed however, as I crouched down to talk to my son about safety, running off and ‘when is a good time for a show’ I heard my husband mutter ‘congratulations’. I spun around as quick as I could to see it was the couple from the corner and they had asked my husband to take a photo of them on their phone as they HAD just got engaged.
I would not let the moment pass again. I quickly stripped myself of all things ‘baby’ grabbed my camera and rushed to the couple. ‘Please let me take your photo’….
And they did.