For a year I’ve kept the same profile photo on Facebook. An entire year. And I had formerly been one of those people who changed her profile pic pretty much as often as she changed her undies.
Well, okay, so
that’s not true. I’m not THAT narcissistic. (And, yes, I DO change my undies
every day – don’t be gross!)
It’s not that
it was such a wonderful photo of me that I just held onto it. But it was taken
at Gervasi Vineyard, which was the last trip that Vince and I took together as
well as the last photo of the two of us.
So it felt like I was being disloyal to him to think about taking it down and changing it up.
What I’ve
realized in the past year is that some of the spark has gone out of my eyes and
my photos aren’t nearly as good anymore. That’s probably because in the “before”
I was either in a picture together with Vince – or he was the one taking my
photo. And he took those photographs with such love, I couldn’t help but be
happy – and that happiness was reflected in my pictures.
Well, either
that – or I’m just getting too old and wrinkly to take a good photo anymore.
Haha.
Besides, frankly,
I don’t have anyone aiming his camera at me constantly, so there are far fewer
pictures from which to choose.
But I know I must
look forward and can’t constantly dwell in the past. Am I guilty of plunking
myself smack dab in the past and refusing to move on? Sure, from time to time. But
only momentarily. I have to believe we all do this on occasion. Memories are
powerful and we know that our past has helped shaped us to be the people we are
today.
Yet I know I don’t
want to be one of those people who, because she lost the love of her life, can’t
get out of bed in the morning and continue to live her best life. Vince would
hate that for me.
So I finally
changed my profile picture. It’s a selfie and, thus, a little too close-up for
my taste. But, because I actually fixed my hair and applied makeup, which is not
an everyday occurrence anymore, I decided it was a good time to give it a shot.
(So to speak.)
But, um, I’m
standing in front of Vince’s T-shirt quilt, so I guess I haven’t completely
moved on.
Oh well. Baby
steps.
Before I
changed my photo, I was talking about it with a friend. And I related the story
about how Vince and I met. Which was online. And he didn’t even have his photo
as his profile pic. It was a shot of a coral reef that someone who had set up
his profile for him, plugged into the spot where his photo should go. But as
this was the beginning of the Age of Social Media for Old(er) Folks, Vince didn’t
know how to change it, so he left the coral reef.
For the first
couple weeks during our online correspondence, I didn’t even know what “vncord”
looked like. And that was okay. I maintained back then that I wasn’t looking
for a date – just someone to talk to. Yeah, in retrospect, I’m so very glad that
(a) Vince was persistent in asking me out and (b) I came around to the notion
of going out on a date with someone I met online.
I know a lot of
people don’t use their own photos in their profile. They substitute their pet
or a flower or a picture of their latest tattoo. I even had one friend use a
close-up picture of her eyeball as her profile pic. I have to admit, that was a
little disconcerting, even though it was a lovely eye.
Maybe I’ll branch
out and stop putting my own face out there. I could instead use a picture of my
big toe? Yeah…no, I don’t think so. Even with the pretty nail polish, my toes are
not exactly photo-worthy.
Or how about a
photo of the spiky weed that is growing near my garage that I refuse to pull
since I’d have to dig out the gardening gloves that I promised myself I wouldn’t
need again?
Again, that’d
be a “no.” People will get the
impression I’m lazy. And that would be a shame since my message is supposed to
be: I don’t like digging in the dirt!
No comments:
Post a Comment