December 1, 2022

I just wanted one good photo.

My son and daughter were in elementary school when we were all invited to a western costume party. My 6-year-old son chose to wear a vintage cowboy costume of a leather vest and chaps. My daughter found a vest at a local cowboy apparel store.

Their outfits were so cute, I thought this would be a great photo for that year's holiday card.

Even though I was their mother and had sacrificed a lot for them, none of that was enough to get them to pose. Let's just say when they weren't complaining to me, they were fighting with one another.

I was using my old 35mm camera and had to have the film developed. I was sure that none of the 100 or so photos I took would be good enough for a family holiday card. However, I went ahead and dropped the film off for developing.

When I went to pick up the photos, I grabbed a box of generic holiday cards to buy. I was done trying to get a good photo of the kids.

I waited until I got to the car to open the envelope. As I shuffled through the photos, I started laughing. I had a lot of photos of the kids being themselves.

No, I didn't have one good photo.

I had so much more.