AnnMarie and Eddie: A long conversation

The funny thing is, Eddie thought that AnnMarie did not like his car. That's what made him start to like her.

The love of Eddie and AnnMarie began with a simple bit of miscommunication, but it grew into a force that changed their lives — because they found that they could just talk to each other, so well.

Their story begins in the spring of 2008; both were single, working parents, and neither was looking to add another duty by throwing a romance into the mix. They had worshipped at the Chicago Church of Christ for years, but did not meet until they both attended a singles' activity. They conversed, Eddie thought AnnMarie was nice, and he asked to take her out for a date.

Eddie was driving a 2006 Dodge Charger Daytona special edition at the time. He has loved sports cars all his life, and this machine was strictly for his own enjoyment, not a tool for picking up ladies. As you'll see in a second, he had other tools at his disposal for if a woman caught his attention — the car was just for him.

AnnMarie, as I'm hoping my pictures have made obvious, is strikingly beautiful, but she's also a mature mother of two teenagers — gentlemen needed to show her a lot more than a muscle car on the first date if they hoped for a second.

But, it had been a while since a guy showed up in one. When Eddie arrived in the kind of machine the boys used to flash for her when she was a little younger, it made AnnMarie feel...younger. Not a car connoisseur, she thought it was a Camaro, or maybe a Mustang — but she remembers to this day that it was orange. For a second, it was exciting to once again watch a guy trying to use a hot car to make a good first impression.

Eddie wasn't; it worked anyway. What came next, however, is what made a lasting impression.

Eddie got out with flowers in one hand and balloons in the other. Like I said, he had plenty tools for impressing a date when he wanted to. These were better than the car: The flowers and balloons reminded AnnMarie of what it was like to have a gentleman, not a guy, trying to win her attention.

It had been years since the last time AnnMarie stopped thinking about her kids for a few minutes and let her guard down.

Moments like this do not come easily for her. AnnMarie is the oldest of three siblings, her family moved from their native Philippines to Chicago when she was 10, and she lost her mother at 13. For her to take her mind off her responsibilities, it takes a moment of real substance.

Eddie gave her that moment.

"I'm feeling like a woman again," AnnMarie said of Eddie's approach.

The couple asked me to include their guests in lots of photos, because they said they wanted their ceremony to be as much about their friends as it was about them. I have hundreds more hugging pictures where these came from.

But, she kept her composure. The car was cute, the flowers and balloons were sweet, and all this had gotten her to relax a little bit, but AnnMarie wasn't about to flip out.

And that was good for Eddie, who since buying the Charger had actually grown weary of women making a big deal out of it. AnnMarie didn't fawn over anything he showed her that night — which made her interesting.

They conversed the whole night — that made her exciting.

"We were able to talk on a very mature level," Eddie said.

"To have a guy talk to me, and to be able to connect, it's like 'Wow, that's nice,'" AnnMarie added.

Nice enough that Eddie earned a second date. And a lot more after that.

And, as it is with any two adults whose fully-developed worlds are coming together, sometimes those worlds intermingled – and sometimes they tangled. Communication got a little more complicated after the first date.

"It's been a journey, up and down," as AnnMarie put it. Eddie put it, of course, in an entirely different way.

"We're very opposite."

The technical term here is 'yumm-o.'

But a teeny bit of miscommunication is what brought them together, and they agree that they've gotten pretty good at understanding each other now.

Adam and Amanda were happy to watch their mother fall in love.

A long, deep conversation has begun.

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Quest Camp 2010: I Am

So what happens when 180 high school kids at a campground for a week find their activities encroached upon by flood-inducing rain, tree-damaging wind and night-illuminating lighting?

Nothing changes. We go hard. Welcome to Rock River Christian Camp & Retreat Center in Polo, IL, and the 2010 Quest Camp, themed "I Am."

Every morning began shortly after dawn with the students, from high schools around Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, reading their Bibles and praying, individually or in groups. The humidity that created this fog was a week-long presence, and ended up causing a flood on our last night together.

After breakfast, though, it's party time.

Doing the YMCA during lunch.

The sports and activities seemed endless to me: the kids could play dodgeball, soccer, capture the flag, volleyball, basketball (or pool basketball), make all kinds of crafts, jam on their musical instruments together or just chill at the coffee bar.

One way or another, every one of them was exhausted by the end of the night.

The talent show.

Big City, an M.C. from Philadelphia, put on a concert that blew the kids away.

Among the numerous group activities, we made a chain with the more than 200 names of Jesus in the New Testament.

Singing our worship of the Lord.

And trying our best to obey the highest commandment: love each other.

That's not the sun, that's one of the dozens of bolts of lightning that lit up our starlight devotional Thursday night, just before the weeklong drizzle turned into a flood.

Matthew 28:20 — "I am with you always."

The all-purpose summer party

A celebration of the American Independence Day, by about 75 people from North and South America, the Middle East and Europe, on the shore of Lake Michigan.

And "Happy Birthday" being sung for one woman, in seven languages.

The story

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The 2010 Get Your Rear In Gear

One young man's death, caused by colon cancer, may have become the catalyst that saves other peoples' lives.

And if not that, it is the reason for an hours-long, blocks-long roving party every spring in Chicago.

The Colon Cancer Coalition held its second-annual Get Your Rear in Gear five-kilometer run and walk May 23 at Oak Park and River Forest High School, raising money for its cause and awareness of a disease that can be easily dealt with when found early, but is deadly otherwise. Twenty teams of families and friends and hundreds of runners, walkers and kids took part on a sunny and warm Sunday morning.

The instructions for the kids' race: "Follow the orange cones, go two blocks,

turn around and come back, and try not to hit the guy with the expensive camera

in the middle of the street."

For those who organized the event, the fight is personal. Patti, who helped bring the Coalition's signature event to Chicago last spring, lost her 23-year-old fiance, Dylan, to colon cancer.

"I was motivated to do something positive to help others become more aware of colon cancer," Patti said.

She motivated others around her as well. Among them was her best friend, Kelly, who helped her organize both races.

"I knew Dylan well and considered him my friend as well," Kelly said. "He was an awesome guy and an amazing athlete. And he died.

"Ever since then, I have wanted to do something to honor his memory and help other people not have to lose a loved one," Kelly said. "And I have wanted to support Patti."

Also in the crew is Candice, a nurse of 18 years who wanted to do something outside of her career to make her city healthier.

"I felt this was a perfect opportunity to reach the community," she said.

Getting warmed up and stretched out for the 5K

Judging from everything I saw as the participants in their event crossed the finish line, what they are doing is working.

It's not likely that any of the organizers will ever know if one of their racers got an early screening — and an early detection — because of what they learned that morning. But, at an event that grew out of a young man's death, I saw people at least having a good time in the face of tragedy, and probably making a difference for those they hope to save.

The racers were pretty competitive,

but the fun-run crowd was...fun

The finish-line welcoming committee

Practicing the Get Your Rear in Gear motto:

"Beat the guy in front of you any way you can."

This year's largest team was The Marti Parti, which declared that cancer stinks,

but that Marti smells nice

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Two decades for good

Catalyst Chicago Magazine has a lot to celebrate — more than just its own first two decades.

But the staff of the magazine and its publisher, the Community Renewal Society, did take one night out March 25 to take stock of what they've done in the field of education reform in Chicago. The publication and dozens of its supporters filled the beautiful Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center for an evening of celebration, fundraising and exchanging new ideas for what should come next.

Rev. Calvin Morris, Ph. D., executive director of the Community Renewal Society, addresses the guests.

Linda Lenz, founder and publisher of Catalyst, spoke about the magazine's future plans.

The future looks bright — why not dance?

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Bobbette and Paul: Stopping a juggernaut

A sun-splashed ceremony on an unbelievably warm spring morning, and the brightest smile I've had the pleasure of photographing in quite a while — but this was not the best part of Bobbette and Paul's wedding.

Bobbette's smile is radiant, not only because her wedding day was coming together perfectly, but because she knows she is doing what many once believed was impossible. She is getting Paul the Great Juggernaut of Single Life to settle down.

Paul had a huge contingent of friends at their New Rochelle, New York ceremony — from his alma mater, Northwestern University, from his four-year stay in North Carolina, and from his native Texas — and they were all eager to roast him about the solemn oath he was abandoning. Before meeting Bobette more than a year ago, Paul had boasted repeatedly (bombastically, some say) that he would never marry.

Here's how how that prognostication turned out:

As a Texan might say, Bobbette fixed his little wagon.

Bobbette brought a large party to her side of the aisle, many from her native Jamaica, which made for the most exciting dance I've shot in a while.

Paul made a solemn new oath to Bobbette on their wedding day; judging only from the pictures I got of their day, I think she won't have any trouble holding him to this one.

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