the long and winding road...

Happy Mother's Day (one day late!):
I hate having my picture taken. Please understand, its not that I don't like to get my picture taken. I really, really, really HATE to have my picture taken. I can't stand it. I am the photographer in my house so it makes it super easy to avoid being caught in any snapshots. I take a terrible pixture... besides my general dislike of my appearance, I'm always making a weird face or my eyes will be shut or some other completely ridiculous thing. My mom wasn't into pix either. As a result, except for our wedding album, there are probably about a dozen pictures of me as an adult in existence and only 2 studio pictures. One was a glamour shot thing I did with my mom about 15 years ago --its not bad but, you know, it was "glamoury" so it doesn't really look like me. The other is a Christmas pic of me with B and C when they were about 5 and 3 yrs old. Its an almost profile shot of me looking down at a book with my hair covering the side of my face. Honestly, if I didn't know it was me, I probably wouldn't be able to identify myself from it. I kind of like that pic!

I don't really mind the lack of photos much since I don't have to be faced with them while flipping through my scrapbooks. Its fine with me really. But, here's the thing, the pix aren't just for me and I know that.

I love looking at old pictures of relatives and friends, sadly, some now gone. It brings back memories of pleasant days past. None of them are/were perfect looking people and, if I were to inspect the photos carefully, it would provide proof that my loved ones were flawed. Sometimes their hair wasn't laying quite right, they had bulges, or they were caught with a crooked smile. But when I look at them, that's not what I notice. I just see an image of a person I care for and it brings a smile to my face.

I realize that someday, when I'm long gone and maybe even before that, Georgie, Casey and Brett (and possibly even their kids) may appreciate having a few photos of me. If for no other reason than to prove I actually existed LOL! It was with these thoughts in mind that I intentionally handed the camera to Bobby while we were in China and said "ok, take my picture too." And then this past weekend, G and I did some professional photos for Mom's Day. I dreaded it for several days in advance. I even thought about skipping our mommy and me photo and just doing G's monthly May pic. But, in the end, I decided I'd do it for G and B and C and I guess me too.

They came out OK. I mean, its still me but G looks great!!!

And here are G's montly pix for our May theme: "April showers bring May flowers" --dress was from Target, try to ignore the dirty bottoms of her sandals. These are the proofs, hence the watermark. We had these printed in a "retro" effect, kind of a black and white and the sandals don't look too bad as a result. Isn't she lovely??