I either don't exist or I've abandoned my family.

That's what one might think if they go through my vast collection of pictures.  Sure, I show up in the odd picture here and there with the family, but pictures of me alone are almost non-existent.   It looks like I abandoned Bryan and the girls right around the time that Ellie learned how to walk.  I must have become unnecessary around that time.

 The pictures of me that do exist are usually pretty awful.  Bryan has a knack for taking the absolute most unflattering pictures of me and he thinks it's pretty funny.  He captures expressions that I wish I didn't know were possible.  I've never met anyone in my life who could capture such awful images of me.  I wonder sometimes if those photos show me the way he sees me.  If that's the case there's only one word that will suffice. Scary.  

The best pictures that get taken of me are those done by my girls.  Madeline loves to take pictures and she's responsible for my current profile picture.  Ellie has taken a few decent pictures of me as well, but they're all from weird angles because she's short.  

Perhaps someday in the future a good picture of me alone will be taken. But, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

I spent a good portion of today getting all of my photos to successfully transfer into my new laptop.  I'm happy to say that I now have all of my pictures at my fingertips once again.  Of course, because I spent so much time with the pictures, I've become acutely aware of my absence in the family photo album.  I guess that's the pitfall of being the family photographer.