Head Shot

As Emmaline grows older, we are finding it increasingly difficult to take quality pictures of her. In part because she is having more and more frequent tantrums demanding to be allowed to go outside and, once outside, to run wantonly toward traffic. Also because she has an uncanny knack for turning away from the camera just at the moment a picture is shot.

We keep trying nonetheless.

We keep at it and we never loose hope.

See? You can almost see her face.

The truth is I could use a little hope right now. You see, when I woke up Friday morning the ground was covered with this strange white substance that unfortunately we ultimately identified as snow. It was April Fool's Day, so the freak The Day After Tomorrow 3-4 inches of accumulation was admittedly apt. Still, I was somewhat bereft by the precipitation. I was dismayed. I was - how to put this - very ANGRY with the universe.

So we dreamt of better things - sunshine, sand, the ability to survive without wearing a hat and scarf indoors. Daryl began perusing the world wide interwebs for tropical destinations, at which point we realized that Emmaline can't leave the country. She doesn't have a passport.

I thought about getting angry with the universe all over again, but I got distracted by the dog who seemed to be trying to eat the baby.

Plans foiled, though, what had been an idle curiosity somehow took on an entirely different air. We became convinced that were it not for the matter of the passport we would absolutely have picked a location, committed, and taken off for a carefree long weekend later this month. In reality that is the exact opposite of how we operate. We have made an art of procrastination such that, in the end, nothing ever manages to get done. Of all of us, Emmaline is by far the most industrious.

Then, while out shopping today, Daryl insisted we detour to Walgreen. Why?

"I thought you would be a nicer person if you got some Cadbury Creme Eggs."

The jury is still out on that one, but I agreed I was more than willing to try. Then we realized that Walgreens offers passport photos. Why not? So we waited the ten minutes it took the teenager working at the counter to find the digital camera. Then we sat Emmaline on the stool in front of the white backdrop. But her head (I was going to say little head, but that's just entirely inaccurate - she has an enormous noggin) was in front of the back of the stool. That's a no no in passport photo rules.

The next step was to stand her on the wobbly stool and try to simultaneously hold her legs securely enough to avoid an ER visit and head CT while at the same time keeping out of the picture. That was the first hurdle. But then there's the matter of Emmaline's willful determination to look anywhere but at the camera. Finally, though, they caught her and proved once and for all that she does indeed have her father's skull.

Are we going anywhere any time soon? Probably not. Feel free to take bets on whether we even fill out the passport application. But, well, there's nothing that says we can't.