Capturing the Same Shot, Through Time

Perhaps you read my previous post, about the first day of med school for Lovely Daughter #1 and the first day of a new teaching job for Lovely Daughter #2. You might be wondering why both gals are posing next to the back end of a car, like this:

LD#1, off for Day #1 of med school

It's certainly not the most picturesque place to take a photo. But posing at the back end of an auto on the first day of Something Very Big is traditional in our family.

LD#2, off for the first day of her teacher training

It started years ago, with this:

This is LD#1, right before climbing into our car to attend her first day of kindergarten. Of course I took a photo of my firstborn child on her first day of kindergarten! I mean, look at that face!:

Even back then, we liked polka dots.

Then, three years later, I remembered the pose, and took the same shot of LD#2 on her first day of kindergarten:

She was so happy and proud to follow in her big sister's footsteps.

This is Bunky Bear, her special teddy, who has been with her from infancy and is still her buddy. Bunky went to kindergarten that first day, too:

Not too many years later, LD#1 made the huge jump to junior high, and I captured that first day in front of our car, too. I love this shot, with her knobby knees, goofy body language, and adult-size ears she hasn't fully grow into:

LD#1 wore her brand-new uniform (polo shirt, gathered skirt, white socks and white tennies) and--to assert her individuality--earrings that are overly long and a Winnie-the-Pooh watch on a brown leather strap that she still has to this day. The earrings:

The watch:
The goofy pose:

And three years later, her little sister adopted almost exactly the same pose when she went off to the same school:

She accessorized her uniform with a grey waist pouch, a silver necklace that used to belong to her Nana, and a bracelet-link wristwatch:

So, LD#1 went from this:

...to this:

And LD#2 went from this:

...to this:

And I went from sad to happy to proud to thrilled to scared, in about a minute.

It happens every time.