A picture is worth a thousand words

Or perhaps more than a thousand words, in the case of the photos taken at my family’s reunion last week.

It was like herding cats, trying to get 29 of us to line up for a group shot. Ten of the subjects were between the ages of 8 months and 7 years and couldn’t for the life of them understand why us old people were making them stand still for so long. As you can imagine, it was impossible to get everyone to look in the same direction, smile, and say “cheese”. Instead, we have pictures of kids who are either madly trying to escape from their parents clutches, or making eyes at one another or at the water pistols littering the ground. The parents all have desperate “hurry up and take the picture” looks on their faces. Only the grandparents were actually looking where they were supposed to, wearing slightly amused expressions while watching the chaos out of the corners of their eyes.

The “kids only” photo was ever more hilarious. It took several takes, because parents were leaping in and out of the frame like border collies trying to round up sheep. Between the clicks, I was pulling grass out of my little guy’s mouth. In most of the photos, his cousin is patting his head while his mom hollers from the sideline, “Be gentle with the baby.” The little boys appear desperate to run away and play, and the girls, only slightly more composed, can’t wait to join in the game.

These photos tell the real family story.