You probably can't tell from this blog, but I'm well into middle-age. I'm not horrified by the prospect as I feel fine and my mind seems sharp.
But a thing happened this past week that give me pause.
Family photos at JC Penney
Our adult children, both out of college, are living with us at the moment. It gives a weird vibe to things, as routines from 20 years ago have now morphed into very different things, like we still watch television together but, instead of Dexter's Labratory or the Power Puff Girls, it's Ru Paul's Drag Race and Japanese language soft-porn anime with subtitles.
We decided to get a family portrait done for our holiday greeting cards. Next year may see all of us in different places. This could be one of the last such portraits we take (you just don't know).
JC Penney is cheap, true, but we chose them also because they allow pets. The photo shoot was a testament of all things Americana:
- Each of the four adults drove separately
- JC Penney is a department store that has seen better days
- It's located at a mall that has seen better days
- I had the wrong location, and led my son astray, but thanks to our cell phones, he and I were only fifteen minutes late for the appointment
- We used coupons to save money on a thing we really didn't need in the first place
Someday, far in the future, our portrait might end up in a Ken Burns III documentary about the demise of department stores and shopping malls. I hope he uses the one with the dogs looking up at the camera.