Joni's First Look...November 6, 2004

The first photos were exchanged between Stephen and Joni in November of 2004, after they decided they liked each other, but well before they decided that they could even try to have a relationship across the world's largest ocean...

Below is Stephen's email with his first photos attached...


"Hi Joni,

This is only a short email – I’ve been at the office all day (Sunday), so there’s not much more to tell you that I didn’t say in yesterday’s email. Well, if you’re interested, I’m going swimming in about half an hour – I went to the gym on Friday and overdid the iron-pumping. As a result my arms feel like they’ve been pummeled with a meat tenderizer! So I thought something more gentle, like swimming, was in order.

Anyway, the reason for this email was to send you a few photos. I’ve picked the ones I thought you’d like and am in the process of scanning them into my computer. These are the first couple.

The top one is of me at a class reunion with some of my friends from school on 12 February this year. I’m the one in the suit at the far right of the photo (It seems so appropriate that the guy in the Che Guevara t-shirt is on the far left, doesn’t it?). Before you leap to any conclusions about me based on that photo, let me point out 2 things: (1) I don’t have a moustache, it’s just the way the lighting was; (2) All the weight loss I’ve previously described myself undergoing has happened SINCE that photo was taken.

The other photo is one I took when I was in Canberra with my father on 5 January this year. It’s the view from the steps of the Australian War Memorial, looking back down over Lake Burley Griffin towards to Old and New Parliament Buildings. The spire you can see in the distance, at the centre of the photo, is part of the new parliament; the old parliament is right in front of it. I thought it was one of the photos I’ve taken that REALLY worked well.

OK, I’ll wrap this up and go for that swim. Hope you like the photos; I’ll send more soon.

Be happy,
Stephen"