Our neighbors down the street, a married couple in their 50's or 60's, offered to take pictures of Hollis as a gift when they noticed I was pregnant. We've been generally shy with our neighbors so we, "Yeah, sure, ok'd" them and forgot all about it.
A few months later I ran into the wife on my way back from the mailbox and she again offered to take pictures. "My husband has a studio and we always offer pictures to our neighbors for free."
I considered it for Mother's Day (for my mom), but then forgot about it.
Then I ran into the husband (again on my way to the mailbox) and he brought it up again. At this point, I'm thinking I'm just flat out rude to refuse the offer so we set something up. And this picture is one of the outcomes.
Incredible, isn't it??
We're not really an "Olan Mills" type of family, but I gotta tell you, I LOVE these photos. They almost seem to say we've graduated to a fully fledged family. We got dressed, we coordinated (well, *I* coordinated us), and we have a back drop with mixed media around us. The only thing I wish we had that isn't there is fake snow on the ground.
Hollis was a champ, as per his norm, and rallied despite it being close to his nap time. Ken and Terri said he was the best little kid they've ever had. Isn't that special?? I love it!!
He particularly loved this stretched, wooden star in the studio. How incongruous is it to have a big, white star in a cozy, firelit living room? Aw, fuck it, right?? It's the holidays and we're a real family with a real kid and the pictures prove it!!
Those stuffed animals look drunk. Aw fuck it, like you said... you're a real family now!
ReplyDeleteps. I will, from this point forward, use any excuse that I can to label you an "Olan Mills" family.
Egads! The look on Hollis' face in the second picture KILLS me!
ReplyDeleteAnd there's no "almost" about it -- you are a fully-fledged family! Your dance around this is intriguing to me...a lot of female tribloggers do this same dance around calling themselves athletes.
Is there something about putting on a new noun that feels strange? *shrugs* It's like we already have our ideas about what counts as a "family" or as an "athlete" and then when we start wearing those nouns we have to renegotiate our previous abstracted notions?
I think it's because when I think of a "real family" I think of my own, with my parents; real adults and the like making grown-up decisions. I just "got it" that I'm that to Hollis. I also don't allow myself to wear mini-skirts or spaghetti strap tanks anymore - it's for the under 30 crowd, not me :) I'm a slow learner, but I get it eventually.
ReplyDeleteJess - Those pictures are fantastic! Very cute and seem to fit your family personality. If there is such a thing. :P I LOVE the star picture!
ReplyDelete