Habits

I'm trying to develop a habit of carrying a camera around. One of my friends does this and gets some great shots that way.

This involves remembering to keep the battery charged, remembering to take the camera along, and remembering to actually take it out and use it.

We were at a potluck this weekend, and I took the camera along. And when we went through the food line Thalia and AnnaBeth started laughing when they saw the green bean casseroles side by side on the table. "Oh, look, Mommy, it's green bean casseroles!" (The hilarity of green bean casseroles at a potluck had been revealed to them by this story.)

So I whipped out my camera and took pictures:



Not much in the way of composition, and the casseroles actually came out looking more like guacamole or maybe spinach dip, but I had over a hundred people behind me in line while I was merrily snapping pictures (it later occurred to me that the people directly behind me probably have real questions about my mental stability after this episode).

But it takes several weeks to establish a new habit -- a handful of casserole pictures isn't enough to turn me into a constant photographer. We'll see what else this week brings.

In the meantime, Thalia and AnnaBeth displayed one of their habits this weekend:

Choir concert. Over 50 kids on stage, ranging in age from 3rd grade to 12th grade.


(Fuzzed out in case someone doesn't want their child's picture on the Internet.)

As the kids were standing there waiting to sing their next song, the lights were lowered and a film clip was played on screens to the right and left. The clip was several minutes long, and was something everyone's seen before. Every person on that stage craned around to try to watch the clip, twisting and turning to get a better view ... even adults on the stage ... well, every person except two. Yes, there were 2 kids up there who are so used to having to wait patiently to perform, who have spent much time in a competition line in front of a judge waiting for their turn without daring a single fidget or frown, that they have a habit of not trying to twist and turn to watch. And those 2 kids stood patiently, arms down at their sides, pleasant expression plastered on their faces, waiting, waiting, waiting. Guess who.

Hey, most Irish Dancers would've done the exact same thing, too. It's drilled into them to Stand Still. Unexpected benefit of Irish Dance: Ability to Not Fidget.