Will’s school asked for a family photo a couple days ago. It made me melancholy. Only for a moment but it did. I pictured what I had always pictured as a family. The parentS, the multiple siblings, toss in a labrador. Oh what the hell, let’s put everyone in matching jeans and white shirts just to round out the perfection. Then I thought of our family picture. The two of us. That’s when the melancholy ended because I thought about photoshopping in ALL of Will’s family. His grandparents; aunts and uncles. His crew at the coffee shop. All of his awesome babysitters. Truth be told, this kid has more family than the Duggars.
But then the panic set in. Picture of the two of us?? Hmm. I have 4 million pictures of the boy but since it’s mostly just me taking picture, there are few of the two of us. And when I mean few, I mean the ones I have from a photo shoot we did when he was wee. Self timed cameras don’t make for too many candid shots and while I do have tons of video of Will – my only part in them is a random hand stuck in tickling him or throwing something to him.
Ah family pictures – such great memories. When I was younger, I felt incredibly slighted by my parents. My three older siblings had packed baby books and photo albums labeled with their names and birth announcements. These were followed by pages and pages of shots of their christenings and graduations from nursery school – other pictures of birthday after birthday. Then at the back of one album is the scattered pictures of the chapterless kid, the nameless kid.
image by www.barebonephoto.com
Oh the injustice. I vowed that Will would never suffer the same fate. His baby book is packed and his pictures are labeled and in albums….until he turned one, and I went back to work. When he’s older he will indeed think that I actually DID sell him to a band of gypsies.
I wish my mom was still alive so I could – a. apologize for ever bitching about pictures and b. ask her how in hell she found time to crap during the day (with four kids under 6 and a dog) let alone take and develop pictures?!?! Now I know why she smoked two packs a day and frankly, if it was me I’d need a seasons pass to the Betty Ford Centre and my own vinyard.
So – the family picture. I took one in knowing how dated it was and knowing they’d understand. When I get it to Will’s teacher, she got emotional for some reason (who knows what lurks in the minds of others), said it’s beatiful and put it on the family board. I glowed the whole way home because (gag I sound like Kate Gosselin) it may not be a conventional one but we’re a family none the less and it’s awesome.
P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day…Will’s school had a ‘wear pink’ day yesterday. And generally my kid dresses like me – all in black – so I thought it would be hilarious to do it. He was just happy to have comfy pants on. This will be an awesome bribery picture for when he’s ..oh I don’t know…thinking of becoming a crack addict? I’ll threaten to show it to his dealer…yeah that it’ll stop him dead in his tracks.
Sara, I have two kids (almost 7 and 8 and a half, so for the last couple of years I started to have a lot of photos whith one of them and me done by another one.
BUT – every single time I meet my friends, be it home or outside, when I have a camera handy, I ask them to take tones of photos – this works beautifuly :))
Thanks Kath (I esp love Will’s drool hanging off his lip since this is constant)…and I agree!!
First off, Sarah, that is a totally amazing photo. And I have always felt like family is better defined using the language of emotions, anyway. Family is the people you love and feel safe with. Plain and simple. You guys make a great family!
I’m afraid one day my daughter will grow up feeling slighted like you. When she started kindergarten this Fall, she was asked to bring in a family photo. The only one I could with all of us in it was taken at her christening….when she was four months old. Perhaps I should have us all crammed into the iMac’s Photo Booth!
Hey Hollie! It’s amazing what we do that we never thought we’d do….and survive! How old is your daughter now? Get on those shots!!! I’m thinking mall photo booths…do they still have those??
We are a family of two as well. Me and my daughter. Never thought at 45 I would be parenting on my own. Yeap last family picture I have my daughter was 6..hmm maybe that is something I need to do.