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No, I didn’t gain 43 pounds; I got my wisdom teeth pulled last week. I took this shot on the 3ed day. Being a “photographer” (can I call myself that?) I was hoping for a gorier, more gruesome recovery, for the sake of a more compelling shot. Eg, I would’ve contently settled for bruises, and a couple of black eyes. I submitted this shot for the “growing up” theme because I indentify and scrutinize life’s little milestones that would be experienced and then filed away and forgotten by most.
When I was 14 I landed my first job, babysitting four kids (ages 4-10) for the summer. at the end of the summer mom urged me to start a savings account with $100 of my babysitting money.
last year I got my first baby, a $100 Nikon. Mom and I agreed I’d pay for it with my $100 from babysitting. A month later I got my bank statement in the mail and the $100 remained. mom said she paid for my camera because she really wanted me to have some savings. Last month I got my 2ed baby, a $500 Nikon. Mom and I agreed 1\5 of the money would come from the $100 in my savings account. Today I got my bank statement…$102.44. she let me keep the money in the bank because she wanted to stress the importance of having money to fall back on.
Today she owed me $60 for house chores and said I could take $60 out of my savings account and we’d call it even. In other words, once again she spared me my $100 savings, when it was agreed I would be pay for my new camera on my own.
today dad took me to the bank and I took out $60 from my $100, just like mom said. After the banker gave me my money, Dad gave me the keys and told me to start cooling off the truck while he paid for the water bill. After crawling up into the truck on the passenger’s side and leaning over to start the car,I looked at my 3 twenty dollar bills and reminisced on how much I struggled with the four kids, and how much they taught me about myself. For a lack of better words; reaching into the past and taking something back with me…that my mom tried so hard to preserve, is a little sad to me. I was a different person then. Not as bitter, less of a cynic, more innocent…
This shot means something to me because I almost feel like by getting my wisdom teeth pulled I’m leaving my child state and moving towards adulthood. i’ll be turning 18 soon, I’m about to enter my final year of high school, it’s just all a little over-whelming. I’m becoming my own person. It’s scary. I don’t want to fail.