The Wayback Machine, Photo Edition

I loathe having my picture taken. I did not sit for a senior portrait in high school, so none exists. Decades later I avoid the camera as aggressively as ever. One of the many reasons I quit facebook was that it was impossible to keep people from posting and tagging photographs of me without my consent. (Facebook sort of added consent, but you are very much at the mercy of whoever posts the photos. No thanks.) 

All of which brings me to this 1993ish time machine: shirt and jeans both two sizes too big, surrounded by my relatives. These guys were described as my 'cousins', but that was shorthand. To this day I am not sure of our exact blood relationship. Their mother was my grandmother's cousin's daughter, I think? That's my best guess. Their mom was very kind to me when I was a kid; I still make chocolate chip cookies using her two-spoon drop cookie method. 

The guys pictured here were also very kind to me as I was growing up. After I got old enough to be able to have more adult conversations they gave me jobs so I could earn some walking around money, let me crash at their house when I needed place to stay, let me borrow their car when I needed a ride, talked to me about how to handle adolescence, allowed me to come to their grown up parties and awkwardly wander around, and generally made room for me to grow up in ways that are necessary but difficult/impossible for parents to enable. I was very lucky to have them in my life. They were more like brothers to me than anything else, so I am very glad that this photo exists. 

The funniest thing about this photo (aside from the overall look itself) is that this is exactly how I remember all three of these guys. I got older, but they stayed the same age in my memory. Of course that is not accurate, and they are all nearly 30 years older now, but I will always remember them at this age, in this way. 

Thanks for reading.