Most teachers dislike school photos. The truth is our photos are almost as awful as student photos. We hate the process. Weird smiles, awkward positions, “turn your head a little, chin forward, look up, and smile naturally.” Yeah…. sure….. we are the profession whose aging is documented for posterity in yearbooks.
Last year when we took our school photos, I thought I didn’t look half bad. I had been with Dr. Jack a few weeks and was starting to feel a little better. One day, he asked me to write a little testimonial about my experience. And then he asked for a photo to go with it, to put on his web page.
I groaned but complied, sending the best I had at the time, my school photo. It wasn’t half bad I thought. I had a few weeks under my belt so I thought, it was doable. I had worn a really pretty size 3x pink sweater and matching shirt, and my signature hair bow.
Well, we had our photos done a few weeks ago and they came today. I passed out all the kid ones and then I sat down during my free period and saw the envelope with my name on it. “Better just get it over with,” I sighed. I opened it up, looked at it and dropped it on the desk. I plopped down in my chair….. speechless.
My eyebrows furrowed and I squinted at the photo. “That’s what I look like???” I thought, “That can’t be.” I sat there staring at it for a few minutes. I pulled down from my school website my photo from last year and put them side by side in one of those photo collages. I stared and stared and stared……. And I got a huge lump in my throat.
I snapped a photo of it with my phone, and texted it to Dr. Jack. “I don’t think I have the right words,” I told him. Apparently that was contagious because his response back was,”Wowwwww.”
I sat there looking. And I realized that even take weight out of the equation. Yeah, over a hundred pounds, factor that out. My skin looks totally different. Apparently, you are what you eat! Thyroid eyes? Gone. I look less wrinkly, my problematic skin is not covered by makeup. I forgot it was picture day and had no makeup on! And I think the thing that stood out to me is that I never wear lipstick. Everrrrrrr…. so those beautiful shade of pink lips?? That’s all me.
The bell rang and we went down to lunch. I had my iPad with me. I showed my teacher friends. And they were so sweet to me, as always, telling me how different I look. But what struck me was one who pointed out to me that my personality is what’s changed. And it has. All for the better. Clear thinking does that to you.
I sent Dr. Jack the photos by email so he could look at them on a bigger screen, really see the difference. Again, he had no words and neither did I. I keep looking. I think I am aging…. but I think it’s going backwards!
No matter how much weight I lost? It is not equitable to this! I look…… healthy! And I feel better than I look!! Now tell me again…. you don’t want to try this program because??? A picture is worth a thousand words right? Well, today, 582 words to be exact.