Picture Day

One of the few memories I have from kindergarten is Picture Day. I don't remember much about it except the mini combs they handed out while we stood in line to do touch ups on our hair (the combination of home-hair cuts and naturally frizzy hair meant my hairdo was beyond help) and my Best Buddies pin. We had some kind of special assembly the day before and afterwards they handed out pins with a picture of 2 blue stick figures holding hands that said "Best Buddies". That pin quickly became my prized possession and I was determined to wear it forever. The morning of picture day my mom picked out a very cute, very 80's, plaid black and red dress and gave me strict instructions NOT to wear my favorite pin. But I loved the pin and felt incomplete without it so as soon as my dad pulled out of the school parking lot, that pin was on my collar. Because they would never know, right? It's not like they would, you know, see the school picture. To this day I think I lost my status as favorite child the day we came home with our picture proofs.
I never understood why the stupid pin mattered until today, when my beautiful 6 year old woke up on picture day with the worst chapped lip EVER. Seriously, her nose is all swollen and red from the cold and her upper lip is so red and flaky. And she threw a temper tantrum about the purple sparkly shirt I had picked out so I agreed to let her wear the red dress she preferred. Then realized that said red dress is at least a size too big and she needed a tee shirt underneath. Not exactly the cute outfit I had imagined. So I tried to convince her that we really didn't need to order pictures (they make you preorder) but she thought that was punishment for refusing to wear the purple shirt and burst into tears. So I dropped her off at school with a chapped lip, a mismatched outfit, and tears streaming down her face. The whole ordeal cost me 7 dollars because I circled the "Class picture only" package (which technically wasn't a choice but I refused to fork over 30 dollars for the cheapest package) to try and calm her down. Not the best picture day ever.