Once upon a time I was 12 years old. The new girl at school, I often sat alone on the bus each morning because I wasn’t what you would call outgoing. Even though both of my cousins went to the same school and took the same bus and had been in the same school district since first grade, they had their own friends and I wouldn’t fit in with their crowds. So, I kept to myself and tried not to stand out, lest I let my awkwardness show.
One morning, though, a girl with dirty blond hair, golden eyes, flannel shirt and 8-hole Doc Martens motioned for me to sit next to her on the bus. Her name was Kim. She listened to Alternative music (remember when we called it that with a straight face?) and was cooler than I thought I could ever be. And we’ve been friends ever since. Kim has been my best friend for what now seems like forever. She’ll be the Maid of Honor at my wedding in July.
When she asked me to take photos of her and her boyfriend, Johnny, I was honored. Not only do I love taking photos of gorgeous couples, but I love hanging out with my Kimmy. Plus, Johnny compliments Kim perfectly so I was eager to celebrate them as a couple the best way I know how––through photos.
We headed down to the beach for a few hours to soak up some of that delicious sunlight I love so much. Kim and Johnny were happy to oblige when I yelled, “Okay, great…now totally make out!” from behind my camera. The most hilarious part of the day was that Kim had a very hard time keeping her eyes open. Every time she heard the shutter click, she’d blink. Roughly 60 percent of the images I took show her mid-blink. To make matters worse, many of the times she manged to keep her eyes open, Johnny would blink. It was a comedy of errors all day long. But in the end, we made a game out of it where I would tell Kim to close her eyes and then count down, “One…two…three…OPEN!” Her peepers would jump to alertness and I’d fire off as many shots as my camera could muster before she’d blink again.
Thank you, Kim and Johnny, for spending a day with me at the beach and for endulging in sushi with Chris and I. We had a fantastic day.
