I contemplated doing a redo of last year’s Selfless Selfie shot, to see if I got better with my in-home studio setup and my ease with Photoshop, but as I shot my son’s birthday dinner last night, I realized that this was the shot for the week. My family. My home. My heart. I’m there in every shot, even if I’m not pictured, not just because I pressed the shutter and froze the moment. I’m there in the birthday present I suggested my sisters buy for my son, in his gap-toothed smile and blue eyes so like my own, in my daughter’s googly hair in the aftermath of my work in braiding it, in my husband’s easy smile and the shirt I gave him for Christmas two years ago, in my stepdaughter’s Harley Quinn headband bought for a Halloween costume I made her a few years ago. I’m here in the collection of magnets on the side of our fridge, in Wonder Woman and souvenirs of the Grand Canyon and Custer State Park, in campaign stickers and preschool art saved for years. I’m there in craft projects and homework, and the way my son’s tiny pinky toe tucks in almost under his others, just like mine, and my sister’s and my niece’s. This is my Selfless Selfie.
