Finding Fotos

For a few minutes this morning I scoured my FB page for pictures of my kids that I’ve taken during this coronavirus quarantine period. I found myriad photos of my older boy and brief videos of both sons, but only one snapshot of my younger boy, and it wasn’t a closeup.

When they were little, the kids loved having their pictures taken. I have hundreds of photos of each of them. It’s very different from my own childhood. There are almost no pictures of me as a boy. As the youngest of five, my parents revealed to me as I entered my teenage years that they had grown so tired of taking pictures of their kids that they took a few obligatory snapshots of me as an infant, and then essentially put the camera away. The only other pics of me from childhood were school photos or whole-family pictures, and those were pretty rare. That made me quite determined that my kids would have a photo history of childhood.

As they’ve aged, however, they’ve grown to dislike the ever-present presence of the camera lens. Younger boy, in particular, lacks interest in his image being captured and displayed. I try to honor his wishes, but more often than not, I take the picture. Then I don’t share it. Hence my problem this morning finding a photo of him on FB.

One of the parents from the school is putting together a video of as many of the children from school as possible to encourage the teachers and staff during this enforced separation called, “COVID 19.” The teachers and staff already made one for us–it was very moving. In preparation for Teacher Appreciation Week, this effort involves parents sending her photos of their kids holding messages for their teachers. I didn’t have that; I barely had photos of both boys from the last six weeks. Eh. Better than nothing, I hope.