The Infamous High-School Yearbook Photo

Copyright 2018 David and Mercedes Rizzo. All rights reserved.[/caption] Who doesn't remember their high-school yearbook photo? Some people love their picture. Others cringe when they just think about theirs. Long hair, short hair, straight hair, frizzy hair. The draped photo, the bow-tie photo. Whatever the style, the infamous high school yearbook photo follows you through your life. You think of your classmates years later as they looked in their senior portrait. At your 25th reunion the name tag you wear contains the same iconic photo. You may be gray or bald now, but the picture on your name tag hasn't aged a day since senior year. Our daughter Danielle sat for her senior pictures recently. It wasn't an easy photo shoot because her autism made it hard for her to know what was going on and what she was supposed to do. She had a difficult time understanding the photographer's commands. Phrases such as tilt your head slightly to the right, look this way, look up, and look down were fired at her.

Copyright 2018 David and Mercedes Rizzo. All rights reserved.[/caption] She tried hard to cooperate but she was clenching her teeth, half smiling, and blinking. The shots just weren't any good. The photographer had to delete them. We wanted her portrait to hang on our living room wall next to the photos of her brothers and to show the beauty that she is. We were feeling frustrated. So was the photographer -- and Danielle too. No one wanted to come back another day for retakes. We had gone to a lot of work to glam her up. She was ready with her hair curled, her lipstick on, and wearing a new dress. With a few prayers and a very patient and persistent photographer we ended up getting several good shots after all.