MY BEST SHOT

This is a post in response to "A Thousand Word Thursday"

at Cheaper Than Therapy blog. 

Click on the link and share your own photograph.

A photo of myself that I actually like:

        When I taught art, we teachers had to have our photos taken each year for the yearbook. We had to sit for the photographer around 7:00 am, before students arrived. I am NOT a morning person, so in my photo I always looked like I had just eaten a lemon. If I received a fairly good image of myself, I used that same photo for the next seven or eight years until another good one showed up. 

        I am just not photogenic. Usually, I look like my smile is fake or I am not smiling at all. Or my eyes are closed. Or there is glare in my glasses. Or my hair is a mess. It's always something.

        A few days ago, I visited my 94-year-old mother. When I arrived, she was showing family photographs to a man from her church. She handed me the one above and asked where it was taken. On the back was written "1987" the year I turned 42 and she turned 73. Some relatives from out of town had been visiting, so we met at the home of other relatives for dinner. I drove there after a day of teaching. Otherwise I would have been wearing jeans instead of a dress.

        Despite the big hair, I like this photo of me. I look bright and happy. That may be because it was taken in the afternoon when I was full of energy and felt like a real person, not at dawn when any sensible person would be in bed. 

        Of course, I would look good ---I was 22 years younger in that picture than I am now. And despite the strangely-tinted glasses my mother is wearing, by contrast she looks healthy compared to her current frailness. 

        Until I find a better one, I will say the photo above was "my best shot."

(©2009, C.J.Peiffer)