Yeah, I like my Costco picture.  This is new for me.  Unlike 90 percent of today’s teens and kids, I am not enthralled with my image. This applies to said shopper’s club cards, driver’s licenses, or even a local directory.

” Ok, have a seat…” the employee directs: “smile…” and before I even have a chance to think about how gummy does my smile look?, I hear a click.  That was it?  Yikes.  I’m really going to see some double chin on this one.  I know all the things to guard against– yet somehow, it never does any good to try and adjust.   I have had the red eyes- demon look, the insecure attempt at demure, the insta-add of 35 pounds version, and the caught me off guard– like this one is probably going to be.  The ever vigilant photee part of myself is usually why I am I not  on the north side of the camera.  The side with the teeny tiny scope of the world?  I can relax and take a pic of the vacation without too much exposure.  I’d like to say I wasn’t always this way, but I’d be lying.  Some of my best attempts to escape the group picture made me look a little less than stealth. My kids have a picture of me trying my first selfie that is painful for me but hilarious for them: unflattering angle, unflattering lighting and a horrified look as I try to both be the focus of the picture and know which buttons to push in the process. 

Up until now, people tried to avoid the camera. My mother and grandmother were masters at vanishing the minute someone pulled out their rectangle-shaped camera with the square little flash bulb on top.  Yeah, I’m that old.

I admire today’s selfie generation.  There seems to be a “hell yeah, that’s me!…” as they get their first look at the photographer’s click.  Upon seeing a fairly average image on their high school identification card, theirs is genuine pride.  In fact, this generation has outdone themselves in learning to look either philosophical in their photos (sporting duck lips), or unbelievably confident “cuz I know that this pic is going to really show off how hot I look”.   How many likes can I get this time?   The extender pole was invented to make pictures look so unanticipated.  Like : “Oh! you caught me off guard as I was rubbing suntan oil all over my legs.  Uh, uh.  Not fooling anyone, honey.  It was rigged from the start.

But today, I got a bit of that with my Costco card.  The unexpected worked for me today.  I found myself thinking: “Hey, I’m killin it with the photo ID!”  I wonder if they have a photo hall of fame?  But I digress.  Really confidence does show on a photo– and this time. I didn’t have the time to overthink it.

And that my friends, is why I’m heading to Sam’s Club to see if theirs is as good.