Us Guys

This is Us Guys, a term my daughter coined to describe the three of us when she was around three or four. Michael and I she referred to as Guys and herself as the The Baby. We have very few picture of Us Guys, for a number of reasons, the most selfish one on my part is that I loathe pictures of myself, the other a more pragmatic consideration is that there are only three of us, and someone must take the photo. I remember an incident when she was in kindergarten, she needed a picture of her family, I gave her one of her and her Dad, and one of her and I. She stomped up and down and said NO, NO, NO---she wanted US Guys,, and she preceded to count us on her fingers, Momma, Daddy and Baby---all in the same picture. I believe I asked my sister-in-law to take a picture of the three of us. As I type this I wonder where that picture is, I will have to find it. Over the years it has been Rach that has insisted on the few family pictures that we have, inviting her friends over to take the photos, hopeful that we would send out Christmas cards with the three of us, all smiles. I think only one year did we actually make that Christmas Card and I censored who I sent it to---I thought I looked old and fat ( I am old and fat). I believe I gave the cards to Rach and she handed them out to her friends and our closest neighbors. She hasn't asked me since. It's funny how things turn around, it was I who insisted on the photo above, I who asked Rach's friend to snap the shot. I who wants to hold on to Us Guys as she prepares for adulthood.