When I was younger, I used to wander around in my mom's closet and try on all of her high heels. I would walk around in her room and look in the mirror and pose, as though I was on the runway, working fo Calvin Klein.
I would then wander in the library that was attached to the other side of her bedroom. It had read walls and was covered from ceiling to floor with books. Books on travel, fashion, and cultures. It was also fascinating to pick out a book and read something special.
But, by far, my absolute favorite book was the one that housed my parent's wedding photos. To say it was a south Georgia socialite event of the season was an understatement. My mom and her handmade dress that made her look like a pure model. The layers and layers of cala lillies that covered the chapel hall and the men's pockets.
Breathtaking.
The man who took their photos was also no other than Denis Reggie. You might be asking yourself, who even is Denis Reggie and why is it so important to you?
Denis Reggie is a professional, Atlanta-based photographer. Also, he took this picture.
Denis Reggie Photography 1996
This photo is the definition of true love. In its most vulnerable form.
It is effortless.
This is John F. Kennedy Jr and his wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy on their wedding day in Sepetember 1996. They were secretly married on an island of the coast of Georgia, away from the press that antagonized them.
Let us back up and really understand their love.
John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the former president, was a Brown University graduate and practicing attorney in New York. Carlyon Bessette was a publicist for Calvin Klein and on the rise a socialite in the city. They met by chance and fell madly in love over the next few months.
The issue was the publicity. JFK Jr. was hounded as being one of the most eligible bachelors in America, all while he was in a successful relationship with the beauty Carolyn.
Yet, it never halted their love. Their love was true and unconditional in every form. It did not seek jealously and saw love in its most true form. They got engaged and were en route to be the next chapter of Camelot and the Kennedy Family.
That all came to a tragic ending.
In July 1999, the couple was killed in a plane crash off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. It was yet another loss for the family, whom as lost Jack, Robert and now both JFK Jr. and Carolyn.
While their love story did not go for eternities like many of us pine for, it was fleeting. Momentary. That is something that I have learned about love. One of my greatest friends, Olivia, told me this while on a car ride one day.
"Love in the long term is great, but not realistic. Love is in the moment. If something doesn't last, do not look back on it and be sad. Be so grateful that it happened and you were able to experience and be apart of it."
Those are wise words.
Words I hope to live by, each and everytime I see this photograph.
