Shouldn't…but Do

It is, after all, an issue of shadows.

School pictures for 7th grade yesterday.  Unbeatable, repeatable smile, no problem there.  On second glance, shadow in the background.  A gloaming no adjustment of camera or upfront lighting could touch on my son’s shirt.  Thoroughly flustered, the photographer retreated to query superiors for tips, while the line backed up 20 to 30 deep.

To amuse the gathering, the old toy dinosaur I keep for evoking smiles on just these sorts of occasions wrecked havoc on the countryside while waiting for news.

No fix, the shadow would have to stay for now, they would retake as many students as they needed to later, but had to get going with the line.

Even the young have shadows, creeping content foisted on them, waiting in the background, like today, just touching their shirts.  I admire my son, for his strength, the character he has shown to those who show him little respect, and for his ability, so far, to keep his voice about him – to speak for himself, even as shadows reach for him.  He has pluck and maturity beyond his years.  I deeply regret the need for that early maturity.  His path, like many, is struck early.

More doings at the school today, last day for school pictures.  Drifting through the room I inquired about the shadow problem.  The problem had been addressed – a back light had faced the subject, rather than the background screen, causing a shadow.

Too much light focused on my son, instead of the background, in life,  where it belonged.  The inequity, improper brightness, attention, brought out the shadow, a shadow easily dispersed when light was rightly refocused.

The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow, a moment of brilliance evokes shades of every sort.  I know not the path of this one, my son, I can only stand by as the light, the attention, comes and goes, some wanted, some not, and to note the shadows that gather to watch.