It was a perfect
September day. The sun stood high in the
sky, beaming down its rays on the earth.
Roses were still in bloom, filling the air with their sweet perfume. The
trees were full of leaves and they rustled when the wind blew. It is days like
this that made me want to bask in the sun and relax, but there was no relaxing
on this day.
My sister Donna asked me to photograph her
since she hadn’t taken any pictures of herself in a while. I was glad to oblige her and it gave me the
opportunity to work on my photography techniques. With several changes of clothing and my
camera gear, we headed to the various parks around town. Never realizing the obstacles that would get
in our way, although, this seems to be the story of my life.
I picked
her up and we decided to go to the various parks in town to try and take some
good photographs. The first place we went to was Foster Park. It was located
very close to my house and there was an abundance of flowers and trees which
provided a beautiful background.
I was still very new at photography and owned
a Canon Powershot at the time. Oh the problems
I had with that camera! Most of the time
I took 10-15 shots of the same scene hoping that at least one would be decent
enough to use. Most shots would be
either blurry, have outlandish colors, some body part was cut off, or dappled
sun spots would be on the subject’s face.
If I took pictures inside during the winter time, well, I might as well
not have tried. They would be dark,
blurry or both. And yet, I kept trying.
We arrived
at the park and began the photo shoot.
Donna was a real trooper. I had
her climbing trees, standing in the midst of bushes and posing in awkward
positions. When we were nearly done, I
saw a lovely tree with a low branch that my sister could sit on while I took her
picture. She plopped down and I tried to
take a few shots. I noticed that she was
sitting in an awkward position. I asked her to move her bottom forward a little
so that she could lean back against the branch comfortably.
“I can’t” she said.
“Why not?”
I asked.
“I’m
stuck.”
"What do
you mean you’re stuck?”
“I can’t
move”, she said,” My pants are stuck to the tree.”
Not again,
I thought. The last time I took someone
out on a photo shoot we got locked in the Botanical Gardens, now this. I felt a
laugh coming. I pried my sister off the
tree branch and turned her around to look at the back of her pants. Tree sap covered her entire backside. There’s no way she is sitting in my car with
that sticky stuff all over her pants.
“You’re not
sitting in my car with sap all over your butt,” I said roaring with
laughter. She stood beside my car while
I rummaged through the trunk looking for something that she could sit on. I found a plastic grocery bag. I asked my sister to turn around. I knelt
down and I firmly pressed the bag to her bottom, making sure that no sap was
exposed and the bag wouldn't come off. I didn't care if people were looking at us while I was pressing the bag to her
bottom; I was determined that no sap would be left on my car seat. By the time
the both of us were in the car we were laughing hysterically.
“Jeannie, something weird always happens when
I am with you.”
“I guess I
am special.” I replied with a smile.
I dropped her off at home and I drove back to
my house laughing the whole way. I had a
great day with my sister and it was one day that I will never forget. Sometimes
it’s the weird things make our experiences more memorable.
