Say cheese!

My wife and daughter embrace for a minute. It’s a quiet hug between the two of them, both happy for the long weekend and the time together. My youngest son stands up now and gets in on the action, thanking my daughter for helping him move home for the summer.

Like clockwork, before I can offer my own goodbye, my son picks-up our dog Nittany, our 15-year-old Lhasa Apsa – Bichon Frise dog, and says “it’s time everyone to take dad’s picture.”

Yes, yes, I’m the brunt of the joke, he’s poking fun of me. I’m the selfie king of our family. I’m the one who calls out that we need a family picture after each get-together. “You know dad will whine if we don’t take a photo,” he adds for good measure.

The family crowds together and our daughter, who’s the best at holding out her smartphone and positioning everyone, takes the shot. Before we disperse, my wife chimes in, saying, “Make sure you take more than one picture, you know how your dad likes a lot of pictures.”

Oh, they’re all so funny these comedians! They should take their comedy routine on the road. I take a swing back by calling them “Crazy fools.” My family likes to tease me, it’s a joke that never gets old for them, but I’m fine with it. They can give me a hard time all they want. I don’t care.

My reasons are pretty simple. Oh, I have shots of my mom and dad from when I was a young kid, but I don’t have a ton of them. One of my favorite pictures is one of my mother and I sitting in a chair. We’re both smiling and dressed up and look like we’re about to go out as a family. I have to be four or five in the picture and my mother, who grew up in a conservative Amish household, is wearing a pair of white 70s knee-high, go-go boots. Despite this one shot, most of the pictures from back in the day are of us kids. I used to love looking through all of our old pictures. I still do. When I was young, I told myself that, when I got older, I wouldn’t be scared to get in on the fun.

So, I try to take lots of family selfies. Oh yes, I get bothered sometimes by how I look in a picture and I cringe at a crooked smile or the extra pounds I might be carrying, but I still say take the picture. I’d much rather look a little chubby than have no picture at all.

My advice to others worried about how they look: the hell with it, you look great, go ahead and take the picture.