Ahh, vacation. Triangle Park’s highly anticipated trip to the Bahamas has come and gone. We truly had a wonderful time. Some of you may have seen pictures of how we spent our days.
We were somewhat cocooned in the beautiful, brand new, Baha Mar Resort. Actually, “somewhat” is an understatement. We literally were cocooned on the grounds of Baha Mar…by choice. It’s a downright spectacular enclave of restaurants, bars, pools, beaches, casinos, and high-end shops. We were never without something to do, eat, or drink.
It’s amazing how “pictures drive vacations” these days. Back in the old days (haha), it was important to pack a camera just like it is in 2018, but the photographs, as I recall them, were not all consuming. They were more like souvenirs, a take it or leave it, no big deal, option.
Nowadays, vacation photo opportunities seemingly motivate and energize with incentives — the likes of which are “likes.” But, what if a picture of you is unflattering? What if it doesn’t show potential to satisfy the “likes” count that you might garner from an otherwise “great” (doctored?) shot. Would you care? Would you still post it?
Getting older and watching myself fade away in the mirror is bad enough. But, doing it publicly while watching my young, beautiful (if I do say so myself J) girls enjoy photogenic heaven, is the personal picture-pits. (I love pictures and I love the game, but if you’re over 50, I’m going to assume you know what I’m talking about.)
Solution: Maintain an energetic sense of humor.
One night while in Nassau, the three of us went out for a delicious dinner. Sav and Dan looked spectacular. As for me, I was feeling all of 56 and then some. After dinner we walked around the grounds to take some pictures.
As my co-tri-angles were posing in their usual youthful way, I accidentally clicked the reverse camera button. Gasp! What I saw was nothing short of flabbergasting. I went from seeing two 20-somethings to…omg…who is that weird looking woman and why is she on my camera screen? Nobody is more sensitive to lousy shots than I am (it’s a long, painful, story :-).
But, get this! Right then and there, I decided to give myself a great, big grin, and go into selfie overdrive. Sav and Dan had no idea what I was doing; they were posing away. I snapped the selfie and it was every bit as wretched as I knew it would be (don’t you sometimes hope they’re not going to be as bad as you think?). It was perfectly imperfect and I loved it! I said, “who gives a manure?”
Why do pictures have to be flawlessly, phony-baloney? We all know we’re far from flawless. In stories, characters with flaws that readers can identify with are the most beloved characters. Why not in pictures too?
Here’s the dreadful selfie. I must confess, I edited it. The shadows, highlights, and sunburn on my neck desperately needed adjusting, lest I die of insecurity illness.
The three of us laughed our booties off at the whole spectacle.
PLEASE, please, PLEASE, girls, have a sense of humor and publicly share the not-so-good photos too. If people (and you) don’t “like” the imperfect shots, perhaps they don’t sincerely like you. And, worse than that, perhaps they don’t have a sense of humor.
Thanks for reading everyone! Love, Shelley
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