It all started when AARP features editor Allan Fallow bet a friend that the bikini-wearing girl featured on the cover of Maine was reclining on Huntington Beach in California. Allan emailed the photographer, Ruggero Maramotti, to confirm or deny, and this was the email he received back:

dear allan,

the picture has been taken in italy in 2004.
i was in maremma, a beautiful area on the seaside of tuscany.

the girl in the image, lina strand (strand in swedish means beach/shore!) was a swedish girl i’ve met a week before.
now she’s the mom of my new born twin girls, nina and lilli!

i wish you a beautiful summer and all the best,

from a sunny stockholm,

ruggero

What an amazing back story! And those adorable twins, oh my.