I picked up the pictures of my three children today, and they're beautiful ("they" referring to both the pictures and the children). I would have liked my son to have a bit more of a smile on his face, but let's not ask for miracles. It's enough that I have all three in the picture at the same time, clean, and awake.
When my oldest was still an only child, I was able to get lots of beautiful pictures of her. And by lots, I mean monthly professional portraits. We were still in Tennessee, and the portrait studio was nearby. Plus, I had lots of time to spend dressing her up and getting her to smile pretty.
It was a little different when my son was born. By then we had moved to a little town in Kentucky, and the photographer only came around twice a year. But I made a point of having the children's pictures taken each time the photographer came. It was a little more involved, getting two children cleaned up and happy, but I enlisted my husband's help.
When my youngest was born, it seemed that all bets were off. It was almost impossible to get all three children cleaned up and happy at the same time, much less on either of the only two days the photographer came each year. The best I could hope for was all three presentable, and two of the three happy with the third one asleep.
There finally came a time when I managed to get the three clean, happy and awake for their pictures. I was frantic. I kept asking the photographer: "Are you sure the lens cap is off? Is there enough film in the camera?" and other equally idiotic and annoying questions. Since she had photographed my children in previous sessions over the years (it really was a very small town), she was very patient only laughed a little bit at me.
A month later the photographer returned with the pictures. I went to pick them up, extremely excited to finally have a good family portrait. But my excitement quickly died when I saw the photographer's face. She immediate began talking really fast, and apologizing. It seems that there had been an accident in the lab, and chemicals had been spilled on the negatives. Luckily, only 7 photos had been ruined. Unfortunately, they were the 7 frames of my children. She had been dreading telling me. It was a very small town, and she had been taking pictures of my family for years. So I did the only thing possible -- I laughed.
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*As you may have noticed, the quotes do not always go along with the stories I tell each day, or even the pictures I post. However, my daily quote is always relevant to my day, even if I choose not to share the reason.
Today the quote is a thank you to my daughter who sent me copies of the literary magazine featuring one of her works. Sweetie, it's awesome work and I've already read most of it (even the stuff you didn't write)!
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