No one’s ever asked me why I take so many pictures of Ava (and of everything else). I guess it’s pretty self-explanatory why I’d want to keep a fairly complete photographic record of my daughter. But if someone ever does ask me, I’ll tell them I’m trying to get a shot as good as this:
Here I am on my grandfather’s arm, my cousin Chris taking up the other spot. The date tag over on the right edge of the Polaroid indicates November 1971, so I can only conclude we were down in Burlingon for Thanksgiving; it was too early for Christmas.
And yes, we got our pictures taken a lot in Burlington. Grandmother was quite a shutterbug, and she kept up pretty well on the latest camera technology. As we got older, her constant clicking away and pose requests became an affectionate family joke. I wish she would’ve stayed around long enough to have enjoyed digital photography. For that matter, I wish my grandfather had stayed around long enough for all us kids to get to know him better.