It’s from the spring of 1990, we’re 17, and yes, I’m a blonde. (and yes, I’m wearing acid-wash jeans, but it was 1990! It was okay then.) It’s a couple of days before Mardi Gras. We’re in Metarie, Louisiana, at one of the smaller parades. You can tell Mardi Gras was early that year because Shelley is wearing her boyfriend’s letter jacket against the cold. I didn’t like Mark much, but he was useful because he’d drive us around and, because he was a big guy who played football, he was able to carry heavy things like that cooler we’re sitting on. We had staked out our place for the parade and were waiting for it to start. Mark grabbed my camera and told us to smile. Shelley turned sideways, put her arm around me, and the flash went off. Done.Of course, this is back in the days of film cameras, so I had no idea how the picture would turn out until much later when the pictures came back. But it’s been my favorite picture since I pulled it out of the paper WalMart envelope. It helps that we’re both just cute as buttons in this picture – no closed eyes or funny looks on our faces. Yeah, there’s a little red-eye going on, but now that I’ve scanned it in, I might spend a little time with Photoshop and see if I can’t fix that.
Maybe it’s because this is my favorite picture that I remember every detail about the moment it was taken. (I could even tell you what Shelley’s other hand was doing at the time, but I won’t. ~g~) A happy, fun moment that was captured on the fly. A true snapshot. It’s not posed or planned. It just was. Kinda just like we were at that moment.
It’s hard to imagine that I’d only known Shelley a couple of years when this picture was taken. The toughest parts of adolescence were behind us, but the really hard stuff was still to come. Of course, we had no idea what adulthood would be like…maybe that’s why we look so happy!
The photo has been tacked up on bulletin boards, taped to walls, and it’s kinda smudgy with fingerprints and the edges are getting battered. But, like the toys in the Velveteen Rabbit, you can tell its importance because it is so battered and worn. It’s my favorite picture of us – snapshot or not.
What’s your favorite picture of you like? Is it a snapshot? Who’s in it and what do you remember about it?
PC
8 comments:
The picture that always makes me smile is you with both my sisters at the Cross Eyed Cricket. Actually, there are two pictures taken less than a minute apart, and both show the great relationship you all shared.
The picture of you and Shelley brings back so many memories. I'm very proud of the women you've grown up to be.
PC's Mom
I have two photos that are favorites. They were taken the same day and I have them framed together in a double frame. One is my sister and me sitting on either side of our maternal grandmother on the porch swing at her house. The other is my sister and me standing side by side on the porch. I was seven years old and she was four. I like the photos because back then I was taller than her. ::grin::
I have a new favorite photo taken just Sunday. It's me, my mom, #1 son, my DIL and the grandbaby. There's four generations of a family in that one photo. Now I just need to get a similar photo with #2 son.
I can also only narrow it down to two, both containing my daughter, Amazing Child.
The first is her as an infant being held by my father as they stand on a grassy terrace overlooking Tuscan Italy. The setting is nice, of course, but it's one of my favorites for the way he is holding her, as if lightly kissing her head.
The second is of her as the flower girl at my brother's wedding. She is in full formal gear, but the picture is a moment caught away from the fuss and circumstance in which she is distractedly, gently holding a rose petal to her nose.
Awww great photo gils. Ahh the happy ,innocent days of youth. Caroline x
Some of my favorite photos of me are from Scotland. I usually look horrible--windblown and bundled against the chill--but they remind me of how happy I was to get the chance to travel there, see things I'd wanted to see for so long. And the accomplishment of conquering my fears of flying to be there.
One other favorite photograph of me was taken during a session trying to get pictures of the kids when my youngest was about 2 months old and Drama Queen was 4. At one point, I was holding the baby, taking a breather, and my MIL took a snapshot of me up close. I'm looking at the camera, and still not pretty -- this time with added baby weight and exhaustion on my face. But my eyes show the peace and mysteries of my adulthood, the maturity that comes with being a mother and wife of ten years, the acceptance that comes from finding my passion and attempting to live it.
Neither of the pictures are good ones of me physically, but it is the emotional attachments to them that speak to me.
Angel
Yep, both of my favorite pictures include my kids. The first one is of my grandmother, my mom, my sister, me and both of my girls. 4 generations of family is priceless.
The second is of Zilla and Baby Girl. It too is at my brother's wedding. She was 2 and while she wasn't a flower girl like Sweet Pea, I went ahead and bought her the same dress so the girls could match. There's this amazing picture where she's standing between the pews of the empty church before the ceremony. All you see is her back as she cranes her head backwards to look up at her daddy who's standing in front of her and looking down. You can't see either of their faces but their body language says it all.
Instigator
Pictures of our kids... why am I not really surprised? ~g~
And funny how the subjects of the photos don't have to know they're having their picture taken, because the moment says so much.
My favorite... that's hard. I don't have kids, so that's out. LS takes some cute pics, I guess. I have this one where I put a blanket over her head and snapped a picture just as she peeked out and smiled at me. She was maybe eight months old then.
Maybe my favorite picture is of me and my mom when I was about three. She's asleep on the couch, sitting up, and I'm asleep sprawled across her while she held me. I guess my great-grandma took it while we were out cold. Just a sweet photo.
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