The Annual Pumpkin Picture

 


Not unlike the annual birthday photo (where I wear the same top and shorts [or at least the same color shorts/skirt] along with jewelry that I wore the day my son was born), the annual pumpkin photo started for no real reason.  It just happened.  And now it's (sort of) tradition.  (Although I don't think we did it last year, my son's first year in college.  Or if we did, I can't find the photo.  Of course I have A LOT of photos.

If I recall correctly (and I'll admit my memory is getting shakier as I age, something that I am NOT thrilled with), it was AFTER Halloween when my husband took the first photo of my toddler son and I with pumpkins.  I say this because my son and I are wearing the same thing that we wore for our first family photo with Santa.  (That's a tradition that I really miss.)  I'm assuming this photo was taken the same day (after we visited Santa) which would have been mid-November of 2006, right before Thanksgiving. It was warm enough for us to NOT be wearing jackets outside and since the pumpkins are still out, it is before Thanksgiving.  Why my husband decided to take the photo (other than the fact that my son was so stinking cute as a boy), I don't recall.  But he did and I loved it.

Sometime the next year we did it again.  This time I think it was in September because I think (and it's been a long time), that I had been to a wedding shower earlier in the afternoon and when I came home, we took the photo.  (Hey, it was 2007...who knows what was really going on.)   By the following year, the tradition was clearly set.  Again it was early in the season (probably right after autumn officially arrived on the calendar) ,we were both in short sleeves and in the background everything looks pretty green and lush.  

We just kept going.  I don't know where all the photos are, but I KNOW they are out there.  (Hiding on my computer somewhere.)  I know my son didn't like it as much as he got older.  (What kid does?)  But, like the birthday photos, it's amazing to have.  To see his growth and maturity.  Way back when I was the "tall" one.  I would stoop down to him.  He quickly surpassed me in height.  (I don't want to admit how quickly; or that although he's grown taller over the years that I've started to shrink.)  Today, I treasure these photos, even the ones that I don't like that much.  (You know some years you don't look as good as others.)

When my son came home for "fall break" this past weekend, he asked if could go get a pumpkin (or two).  We needed one for the house, but he also wanted one for his dorm room.  So the two of us went out to the garden center and made some purchases.  (Because you can never just buy one thing!)  In the past we've gone/done apple and pumpkin picking.  This year there really was no time.  (Plus the whole experience has gotten a bit crazy and expensive!)  When we returned home, he agreed to do a photo shoot.  Even leaning/kneeling, he towers over me.  And that's a good thing.

I treasure these photos.  Will there be more?  Maybe?  I hope so. (I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed.)  But if not, I am grateful for what I do have...a record of autumns past with "my kid". (Because no matter how old or how tall he gets, he will always  be “my kid.”




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