Ryan + Carrie

Several years ago I was strolling through a Portland park with an infant-Audrey strapped to my chest in one of those ridiculously long fabric harnesses. Her great walnut eyes were peeking out from beneath the rim of her little white bonnet and her arms and legs dangled loosely like a stuffed monkey that has been put on display in the shop window of a toy store. Suddenly a woman came up to me and tsk-ed. Literally, tsk-ed as though I had done something wrong! I turned around to see if I had unknowingly dropped a bit of trash along the sidewalk. I looked at her with inquiring eyes, but she didn't crack a smile. Instead she gave a short, sharp little nod and said, "That is too cute. It should be illegal."

I feel the same sentiment wash over me every time I look at these pictures - and it is compounded by a cool rush of relief and sisterly pride that the man featured in them is now, officially, as of two o'clock in the afternoon on September the 24th, RJA, Esquire. Extraordinaire. And his bride-to-be? Well, she's just extraordinary. Purely and simply.