pieces and ponderings

Today was senior picture day…again.  This time it was child number 3’s turn to smile in front of the camera while I looked on.  Of course, child number 3 is perfectly capable of having his pictures made without his mom…but, this mom is NOT capable of child number 3 having his senior portraits made without me.  So just like child number 1 and child number 2 before him, I tagged along.

First was the formal shot…him all dressed up in a tuxedo shirt and jacket, complete with bow tie.  He looked good in the tuxedo top.  He looked very handsome.  He looked grown up.

“He’s a big boy,” commented the photographer as he reached for the bigger sized jacket that hung on the apparel rack.

“Yes,” I nodded in reply.  He is a big fellow.  He’s inching out his 6’ 4” dad in height.  He’s big in more ways than just in physical size.  He has a big heart.  He is big on kindness.  He is big on courteousness. He’s big on thoughtfulness.  He’s big on helping his mom in a myriad of ways.

As child number 3 posed…I reflected.  It’s what I do while my seniors are having their pictures taken.  I think about how the years have flown by.  I think about the ways they resemble their dad or me or a grandparent or a sibling.  I think about the short time ago that I was looking on as child number 1 stood against that wooden fence back-drop.  I remember child number 2’s photo-shoot and the many changes of clothes and the make-up and the hairspray and the four-inch heels that made her look even taller than she is…and the bright eyes that went with her bright smile.

And I thought about this child number 3 that stood before me…the teaser in our family when he was a little boy.  This young man with a wry sense of humor, who teases me incessantly when I do something stupid like spend minutes looking all over the house for the purse that is hanging off my shoulder (that’s the story I reminded him of today to get him to smile for the camera).

That’s why I have to go with my children when it’s time for senior pictures…to make them smile…to watch them all grown up…pose in front of the lights and the camera…to hear the camera’s shutter as it clicks away…catching those whom I’m most proud of, in digital images that will be transformed into portraits that hang on my wall.