The Redhead asked me, "so are you going to start taking my picture again every day?" I expected the question. I didn't expect her response after I implied yes. She was excited! And it wasn't sarcasm!
Uh....is this MY child?
When did that happen? When did the excitement start?
This is kind of something I rarely like to admit to people. I rarely like to divulge to people my compulsive need to take The Redhead's photo every day she goes to school. I only told the sitter once because I had forgotten to take it that morning, and didn't want a missed opportunity. But yes, I have a picture of my child from every day she has attended school, Kindergarten through the present. Minus a day.
It started out as this cute idea. I thought, "how cute would it be to take a picture and somehow make something with all these thumbnails and say to the teacher 'thank you for every day you've spent with our child.'" And it was a cute idea. And we even put it to use. Twice. By second grade, I never got to it. I had the pictures, just never the time to do what I wanted to do. I did a lot of other things, but on the list of priorities, it wasn't nearly as high. I kept telling myself I'd get those photos to Mrs. D someday, but that day still hasn't come. And I never told her.
Then somewhere in that, I did it for me. I did it as a recording device. All the changes. All the outfits. Actually, that's how someone discovered in Kindergarten that The Redhead hadn't worn the same outfit to school twice for months. Apparently they had the time to go through all the pictures on her website (which is now gone) and take note of this. It wasn't intentional on my part. And yes, we had a lot of clothes. With matching barrettes. We still do. This has never been something I've denied. But I also get some sensational deals. I also only have one child. And our intention was always to have fun living lives as parents, taking advantage of every opportunity. And hair bows and cute outfits from Gymboree are included in that. With no apologies.
I will offer none.
What I will offer you though is today's photo. That bright, smiling, growing face. And who knows how many more years of daily photos I will be able to capture, but I don't think I will ever regret doing such. Whether I'm in Kansas or in California. It's nice to have that constant. That same beautiful, precious face and head of hair. And my same proud intentions.
No matter how far this goes though, no matter where we are in the world, I'll probably have to stop by college. Right?
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