Ellen & Jonathan // Deep Creek Lake, MD // Couples Portraits

It all started with piano lessons. I was 11 years old & had taken about 5 years worth of lessons from a dear lady named Mrs. Taylor. I went to her house every Tuesday afternoon and she taught me the basics and fundamentals of playing the piano. Unknown to me, Mrs. Taylor, who when I began as her student had a thriving little business teaching piano out of her home, was slowly whittling down the number of students she had. Finally one afternoon, with tears in her eyes, she explained to my Mom & I, that I was her last student and she needed to discontinue teaching me. Her life and circumstances had changed and it was simply the end of her piano teaching chapter.

I remember going for a whole summer without taking any formal lessons. Honestly, it was a much needed break. I still played, but not as regularly as I had before. I truly wanted to learn more and continue on with lessons though, so the search began for a new piano teacher. Recommendations were sought out and several friends suggested Mr. Jalosky – and the more we asked around, the more his name came up. He & his family were close friends with several families we knew and he actively gave lessons to several other families we knew. It just seemed right – especially when we found out that he would come to us and give me lessons in our home. With 4 kids at the time, that was welcome news to my Mom.

And so I began lessons with Mr. J. As Mrs. Taylor had taught me the fundamentals of music (how to read it & what the notes meant), Mrs. J. taught me a love of music. He was passionate about his teaching – he truly loved it – and he passed that love on to me. Sure, he would correct me when I played wrong notes and got the timing wrong, but he really wanted me to feel the music, to let it flow, to love it. We played all kinds of things through the next several years of lessons – blues, classical, ragtime, opera, movie soundtracks, hymns, and contemporary arrangements. We became great friends. So much so, that we’d sit at the piano and talk for just as long or longer than we’d actually have lesson time (I’m sure his wife wondered what in the world he was doing, giving such long lessons at the Eichelberger house! Sorry, Mrs. J! That was my fault!)

Eventually, Mr. J. also began teaching some of my other siblings. He taught Ellen for many years, Amy for a few, and finally laid the foundation of Ruby’s piano playing. I’ll never forget though, the times he would talk about his son. Jonathan was a little older than me, so at times he would update us on what he was doing: in the band at Norwin, graduating from high school, getting ready for college, etc.

You’ll never believe this, but that same Jonathan – is now dating my sister, Ellen. It’s been a long time coming – and their “how did you meet” story is super cute – but we’ll save that for another time! They’ve been dating all of about 4 months now, but it seems like forever – that’s how perfect the two of them are for each other. You know when people tell you, “you’ll just know when it’s right” when it comes to relationships? Well, we all “just know” (and that’s why I can leave you with the cliff hanger of their story, because I’ll definitely be telling more of it in the weeks & months to come!)

At the lake last weekend, we did some fun photos of them! That story, and the whole reason behind why we did photos, is another story for another time (geez, I’m just dropping cliff hangers right & left, aren’t I?) but we literally had a blast. Since it was 4th of July weekend, we did a red, white, and blue theme & we just had fun! If you can’t tell that these two like to have fun together, you must be blind, because it’s kind of obvious – see for yourself!

Did I mention that they like to laugh? Like, a lot? They could hardly stop laughing!

AGAIN! With the laughing!!