Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Smile for the Lightning

Richie found an old 35mm camera in our attic and has been snapping photos ever since. I'm not sure where it came from; it appears to be an antique.

But I like that he found it. It creates a sitcom atmosphere in our house. It reminds me of the footage that played during theme songs and credits for 80s T.V. shows.

The Facts of Life theme song plays..."You take the good, you take the bad, you take 'em both and there you have...the facts of life. The facts of life."

Meanwhile Trudy rollerskates into a grocery store display of cans and then, freeze frame, she's smiling cutely at the camera.

In sitcom land, nobody gets in trouble. They just get laughs.

So in our house, J.J. might be eating a fistful of dirt from the houseplant, but when Richie takes his picture, he freezes and smiles, showing muddy teeth. Cue laughter.

Or Justin might be remodeling our bathroom. Just as he breaks our bathtub in half with a sledgehammer and throws it in our front yard, cursing it vehemently, Click. He throws his head back in a jovial grin.

Or I might be yelling, "I'll be mortified if that broken bathtub is in our frontyard when the school carpool people drive by in their Lexis SUVs. That needs to be out of our yard by 7:50 a.m. sharp." Click. Now I'm smiling and winking at the camera.

Hmm. What should our theme song be? Facts of Life is taken, tragically. Same with Bewitched. "Redneck Woman" is a real possibility, what with the porcelain lawn art. It appears to be there for the long haul. Bathing in the sunlight, so to speak. Click. Me laughing good naturedly.

Richie, meanwhile, is bewitched by photo-ops. He often asks me to take his picture, and when I do, he lays on his side and rests his chin on his fist. I'm assuming he saw that pose in a Glamor Shots photo.

Temperatures reached the 60s a few days ago. In the evening, a huge pink thunderhead was rolling in, so we ate our dessert outside. Lightning flashed.

Richie turned on his heals.

"Someday taked my picture!" he said, looking around for a photographer.

Laughing, I said, "That was the lightning."

He gasped.

"The lightning taked my picture!"

He sounded indignant. Like a movie star weary from all the publicity. But it was just an act. Because next, he looked right at that thundercloud and smiled for the camera.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

How cute! I told him Rosie had taken the pictures, which we looked at today, while she was in Phoenix. He said "My mom has a camera and she takes my picture all the time." He also said that Erin doesn't have a baby in her tummy yet, it's just a bump of blooood. The Dr will put in a baby when he wants to take it out.

7:27 PM  
Blogger Sondra said...

Bridget don't worry about what the crazy BMW wagon mom's think! They are probably jealous that you are getting your bathroom remodeled and they aren't. You should have Richie take a picture of them as they drive by, see if he can capture the lovely shade of green against the white of the Beamer.

4:53 AM  

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