Picture You Perfect

It seems that in just about every family photo album I look through, there’s always one family member that’s conspicuously absent. It’s usually the man, although that isn’t always the case. Why is that so? It’s almost as if every family has one invisible member, at least if you look at the photographic evidence.

Women love to “make memories.” For those of us who don’t know that that means, it means having things which they can later look at, which will invoke pleasant memories. I’m really not sure why they do this, as I’ve always thought if something was important enough, I’d remember it on my own; and if I couldn’t remember it, it must not have been all that important. Of course, that logic isn’t really valid.

Was your first anniversary important? Okay, what did you do to celebrate it? Let me guess, you don’t remember. Well, neither do I. According to my invalid logic, that would mean that my first anniversary wasn’t important to me; however, I guarantee you, it was important.

Women tend to remember things like that much better than we do as guys, yet they still want to “make memories.” Maybe that’s because they have a much greater desire to make sure they don’t forget. It probably has something to do with the fact that women are more relationally oriented, while we guys are more action oriented. They want those memories, because to them, relationships are what make up their lives.

So, if that’s important to your wife, like it is to mine, why don’t we do something about it, like making sure that we’re in some of those pictures? In fact, let’s get extreme about this; make sure you are in a lot of those pictures, preferable with your arm around her. That should help invoke some positive memories.

When was the last time you had a portrait done of the two of you as a couple? Unless your kids have grown up and moved out of the house, the last time was probably before your kids were born. Why is that? Is it that you don’t like to be seen with your wife? Or is it just that you don’t think those pictures are all that important. Well, guess what, they are. Your wife needs a picture like that and you do too.

Do it right, now. Get a haircut, trim your mustache and get all dressed up. There’s no sense going out to get a picture taken, looking like a bum. You can put your jeans and t-shirt back on later. But, your wife will enjoy seeing you dressed up for the photo. Then maybe you could take advantage of being all spiffed up to go out somewhere together. 

Once your pictures come in, be sure to buy a nice frame, preferably something with hearts on it, to put your portrait in. That way, everyone will see you two lovebirds, looking like a couple of lovebirds.

Every time one of your wife’s friends sees that portrait, with the two of you together like that, there’s a pretty good chance that they’ll say something positive about the picture, or the two of you together or even just about you. That’s good, because every time that happens, you’ll get a point for that picture.