That can't be me

I was sorting through some pictures on our computer recently.  There were quite a few to go through.  Back in the film days, the camera only came out for vacations and special occasions.  Now, anything can merit a snapshot.  The boys are especially quick to grab the camera.  Their favorite subjects seem to be the cats and each other.  I remember one of them using a film camera once.  It took about a minute and a half before the 24-exposure roll of film was used up.  Even then, they didn't fully grasp the finality of the situation, hoping instead to be able to go back and erase some earlier shots to free up some room on the film.

So there I was, sorting through pictures, making folders with meaningful names like "Misc Oct 2008".  I'm happy to say I didn't run across many pictures of myself.  For vacations and such, I'm often the one with the camera and thus I'm seldom actually in the shot.  I don't particularly like looking at pictures of myself.  Everyone but me is so familiar looking.  There's my dear family with a guy who kind of looks like me, but kind of doesn't.  He'd at least look more like me if he'd part his hair on the same side.  That's the real problem - I've gotten used to the mirror-image me.  I know the image I see in the pictures is what everyone else sees everyday, but it's not how I see myself.  Everything's flipped around from where it should be and it just seems wrong.  And another thing, that guy in the picture could stand to lose a couple of pounds.

I prefer to continue basing my self image on what I can see in the bathroom mirror, not what the camera reveals.  If I can't see the beginnings of a bald spot on the top of my head, then for me, it doesn't exist.  And with a little help from PhotoShop, it won't exist in the picture either.