As quickly as time passes…isn't it just as amazing how quickly you can be transported back in time by a song on the radio, a fragrance or a déjà vu moment? I had one of those time travel experiences last night. It was my husband’s birthday and I was in the middle of what seemed like a million things when I got the idea I should take my children’s picture while they were here. Having them all under one roof has become a rarity these days, but due to their Dad’s birthday dinner I was presented with a perfect opportunity.
Flash back to many years gone by. My older two were nearly nine and eight-years-old when the baby was born late in November. I decided that it would be fun to make them matching outfits and take their picture to include in that year’s Christmas card as both a holiday greeting and a birth announcement. Little did I know the tradition it would inspire.
Year after year I would gather them up a few weeks before Christmas to capture their growth. It didn't matter that we lived in Florida and it was 80 plus degrees outside. I would stick them in itchy holiday sweaters, light the fire place and instruct them to act lovingly to one another as the picture was going to all our relatives. Hot, itchy and soon irritated; we would eventually question the need for a holiday photo that was going to people even I had never met.
Reasoning aside, year after year I would gather the three of them, place them in some type of pose, snap off 24 photos and run to the one-hour film developing place. I would hold my breath in hopes of getting just one good shot. Whose eyes were closed, who had bunny ears...who had just poked his or her sibling?
I would eventually laugh to myself as I enclosed the final product in the year's Christmas card, but believe me; the photo taking process was anything but a laughing matter. One moment I was a crazed mother yelling sit nice, don't do that, stop making faces at your brother, and seconds later I was saying...SMILE! To finally see their angelic faces captured on Kodak paper was both miraculous and a relief to know it would be another year before we'd have to go through that again. I was always grateful they were photos and not movies; yet now that they are grown I would welcome the opportunity to insert the cassette, hit the play button and rewind the years.
Last night I was able to do just that. All it took was a view through a camera lens and I was suddenly looking at three children who still know how to push my buttons. Minus the holiday sweaters, I instead presented them with some fun Mardi Gras masks. I snapped a few photos, looked at the results on my digital camera screen and suddenly realized my oldest son had been making faces at his younger brother. Sensing my irritation it was all they needed to bust out in laughter. Witnessing their silliness, it was all this Spirited Woman needed to laugh along with them and wish we could do that a lot more often.
Gina McNew, www.ItsHipToBeHot.com
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