Two

Monica: We have a little ritual at the end of the day when we cuddle up on the couch to watch a movie. I rest my feet in Michael's lap and he pulls off my socks so he can crack my toes and massage my feet. I massage his neck and shoulders or scratch his back in exchange. What I didn't know until recently was the secret game he plays with my socks. He balls them up and tosses them one at a time into the living room, but he always tries to hit the first sock with the second, like croquet or bocce. One day in the middle of our movie, he suddenly exclaimed "YES!" out of the blue, and that was when I learned that all this time, he'd been playing this little game to see if he could hit one sock with the other. (Apparently it's much harder than it seems.) It's one more thing I love about him, his boyish mischief.

Evelyn: I treasure small glimpses of authentic tenderness shared between two people; whether friend, partner, or family, these little moments remind me of the depth to which we can love and honor each other. I was blessed to have a moment behind the lens to capture a simple graceful kiss, placed genuinely, devotedly, on the cheek of another. It touches the part of me that loves deeply, that desires connection and patience and tenderness in my life. It strikes me that the common beat of my heart, moving in a room of dozens of bouncing hearts, all murmuring to our own joys and sorrow, is connected and loved with all that it is to be human in the instant this kiss was witnessed.  This kiss, gifted and then gone, for just a moment remains through the eye of my lens, and is held dear.