Driver's License Picture

My driver’s license is about to expire, but I don’t want to get a new card; I know they’ll update the picture. I’ve become so attached to the current one, the same one that’s been there for so many years, the same one I remember taking, the same one everybody laughs at when they first look at it.

It’s just me, immediately after I passed the driving test, I was young, still in high school, still with some youthful rebellion on my face, still with all my hair on my head. The person behind the counter told me where to stand and where to look, I followed both directions with a smile on my face and faced the camera. I saw a flash and relaxed, but the employee didn’t tell me to leave. I stood there, a little bored, when another flash flashed in front of me. I can only imagine that the first picture was too good, too clean, that they deleted it because it was too perfect to be seen. The second one though, that’s a true masterpiece.

It’s not quite a frown, just my resting face, but the fact I’m not looking at the camera is the real coup de grace. The moment I saw it I couldn’t stop laughing. I knew it’d start conversations many years later.

I went in to take a new picture yesterday, and this time, I made sure to hold my smile.