Retake?

School pictures came home the other day. I was digging in Masha’s backpack for her daily report and I spotted the package. There she was, so beautiful in her red plaid dress... the perfect preschooler photo.

I knew there would be a similar package in Kimani’s school bag. I tried not to get my hopes up. It takes a thousand shots of Kimani to get a good one... I slipped the thin grey 8 by 10 envelope out of her bag, cellophane side down... With a final wish, I flipped it over, and my heart crunched tight.

“Retake!” was my initial painful reaction. My gut hurt. Why couldn’t she look more... why couldn’t she look less... Why did I have to feel so damn disappointed? I wanted to send it back.

Masha and Kimani are opposites when it comes to the camera. Masha is a pretty girl and that prettiness elevates to lovely when frozen in a snapshot. Kimani is a beautiful child... dainty, fair, with plush rosy lips and ocean blue eyes. Her cheekbones are high and she has a perfect kitten nose. Her wispy hair frames her face with a golden softness.

And like so much about Kimani, her absolute beauty cannot be stilled and captured. But evidently her delightful laughter can be and I won’t be trading that in anytime soon.