An ‘Aggressive Love for Life’ Regardless of Life’s Challenges

By the end of June, their connection had deepened, courtesy of a few more casual meet-ups at clubs and parties in Manhattan. In July, both had trips to Berlin scheduled for a fashion trade show. “We were like, OK, cool, I’ll meet you there,” she said.

The rendezvous in Germany brought them closer still, but both left the door to their relationship wide open. Back home, “for a month or two our schedules didn’t line up,” Mr. Carbone said. The romance remained casual. They would only see each other a handful more times before Mr. Carbone’s accident.

Mr. Carbone grew up in Quogue, a village in Southampton, N.Y., with a younger brother, Kurt, and their parents, Meg and Timothy, who were schoolteachers. In summers, the family moved to the Swordfish Beach Club in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., which Mr. Carbone’s father used to manage. Mr. Carbone and his brother spent the long days surfing, fishing and lifeguarding.

The family packed up every winter weekend and drove to Vermont, where his parents were part-time ski instructors on Okemo Mountain. “It was a very dynamic life, beach in the summer, winter in the mountains,” Mr. Carbone said. Both boys learned to ski as toddlers and started snowboarding as adolescents.

Skiing defined Ms. Torasso’s childhood, too. Born in Turin, Italy, a 45-minute drive from the Alps, she was racing competitively by age 9. “That was really the best part of my youth,” she said. “I traveled all over Europe with my ski team. It was my first love.”