Christina Fillari grew up right down the block from me. I moved into the neighborhood in 5th grade, she showed up in 6th. We couldn’t have been more unlikely friends. I was into Dungeons and Dragons, she was a Cheerleader. Strange as it may seem, though, growing up in the same neighborhood creates a bond. We hung out on Friday Nights playing flashlight tag in the neighborhood. And I even tried my hand at Cheerleading (with some nudging from her and a few other friends).

As we grew up we kept in touch and would pass each other by back home (always waving as each other as we passed), Christina grew up and moved on from the neighborhood, as did I. When I found out she got engaged, I demanded to shoot her engagement, claiming first dibs!

We lucked out with a really nice day in Hoboken on the pier. It had been a while since we’d seen each other but we picked up like there wasn’t more than a week of missing time. Brandon seemed to enjoy it. One of the things that I really like about shooting friends is how easy it is to get into the zone. There’s no awkward getting to know you stage and by proxy the other person, in this case Brandon, warms up to you pretty quick as well. It helps that I have a little trouble shutting up when i first meet folks.

Once we finished up at the pier we walked over to Bin 14 for some wine and Burgers. Once Brandon left to freshen up, I leaned into Christina and quietly told her, “I like him!” She perks up and whispers, “Me too!” We had a laugh, actually we had a bunch of laughs. It was a really fun day.