I am very excited to introduce you to a very special couple, Lindsay and Ed! They are the selected couple for the 2013 Giving Back Package. I met up with them for their engagement session at Topsmead State Forest, and right from the very start, I was in love
They will be getting married next month at The Barns at Wesleyan Hills, and we are really looking forward to it! Many thanks to Larissa Lake Makeup Artist for the fabulous job at this shoot.
Here is the email I received from Lindsay last year:
Hello,
I am writing in regards to giving back to someone very dear to me, as well as everyone around him.
His name is Edmund Apostle, and despite the personal and emotional hardships he has endured over the past three years, he is still to this day, one of the most loving, caring, kind, thoughtful, generous, considerate, loyal, respectful, hospitable and charitable people I know.
Here is [a part of] his story.
A few years ago his life drastically, unexpectedly and tragically changed. Ed and his Mother, Marilyn, and sister, Nicole, suffered the loss of their beloved husband and father, Gregory Apostle, who very suddenly and unexpectedly passed away at a very young age. Ed described the day he died to me only two months after we met:
He received a phone call prompting him to go home to his parents house, where he was living at the time. Ambulances arrived and discovered that Greg was suffering from an acute heart attack. Ed insisted on traveling with his father during the ambulance ride to the hospital despite the unsettling outcome that he felt awaiting his father with near moments. In the ambulance, the EMT staff tried all they could to keep his father alive. Once the ambulance arrived at the hospital, those attempts stopped. In disbelief, Ed tried to save his father; a man he loved, cherished, and still to this day, looks up to. He stopped. His father had passed away.
While Ed was describing that day, he laid in my arms, his head buried in my black cardigan, and helplessly cried. To this day he talks about how he wishes his dad could be here, how he wishes his dad could’ve met me. His outlook on life improved over the years, however the memory of his father had, and still has stayed with him until today.
A little over two years later, on March 25, 2011, two of our friends announced their engagement, and they decided to host a celebratory get-together for the special occasion. Our mutual friend, David Laduzenski, was in town to pick up an engagement ring for his long time girlfriend. He came to join the celebration Dave stepped out of the house for what he thought was going to be a brief moment. We heard a frantic banging at the door by a stranger, begging for help. All we knew was that a pedestrian was hit by a car. We congregated on the lawn outside. As he walked closer to the road, he realized it was one of his most cherished friends. Things were not going to be okay, and things were never going to be the same. Dave was, and still remains one of Ed’s best friends.
Ed watched his father pass practically in his arms, and has lost one of his best friends in a very similar way. Despite the the hardships he has endured, he has still remained strong. A day does not go by where he doesn’t think of his father, the man he aspired to, and still aspires to be, and David, the friend he will never forget.
He gives and gives to so many people, never asking for anything in return.
He serves the community as a Police Officer in West Springfield, Massachusetts every day, risking his life, helping to serve and protect citizens who may or may not want or like it, who may or may not thank him, or even may not even need it. But he still answers when called, regardless of circumstance. No matter who calls, no matter what, he is there.
Ed has been through so more personal and emotional tragedy than the average 29 year old people I know, and yet has consistently and unselfishly given help to so many people in so many ways, and it would be amazing if it could be shown to him that all of his random thoughts and acts of kindness, generosity and bravery affect everyone. Despite all that’s been taken from him, that it’s not always give and no take, that his actions are, in fact, greatly recognized. Shown that he is special to so many people; that all of these years that he has unquestionably given his love, heart, soul and compassion to helping and being there for others, that those gestures don’t go unnoticed, and that in one way or another, kindness and generosity can be reciprocated.
My name is Lindsay, and I am the 28 year-old woman that he met 3 years ago, and who he has asked to marry. I am finishing nursing school on February 01, 2013. I would like you to give me the opportunity to symbolize my gratitude to him for everything he has ever done that has touched so many people, and because of this situation, only words and actions can help me. Please consider his story, we would both be forever grateful.
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