Playing dress-up was serious business when my kids were little. Since both of them active in drama, their love affair with costumes continued through high school. True, my son still goes gaga over cowboy boots and goofy hats and my daughter is a seamstress at her college’s theater department. But I thought they’d left their dress-up days behind like the rest of my adult family – mother, sister, brother, cousins, aunts, uncles, in-laws, out-laws – and become staid, respectable and a little bit stuffy.
The photo booth at my son’s wedding reception proved me wrong. The picture factory went into production after the ceremony ended, while the wedding party and immediate family went outside for pictures. By the time we entered the reception hall, the to the photo booth was populated by revelers wearing the hats, clown nose, pig and elephant noses, scarves, shawls, kazoos, do-rags, aprons, parasols, and old glasses I described in All Packed, one of last week’s posts.
I hadn’t expected the older generations to let their hair down with such enthusiasm. Seeing my uncle, the former high school world history teacher who gave killer essay tests, enter the booth wearing a blond wig and tiara far exceeded my wildest expectations of silliness. But he wasn’t the only one whose inhibitions bowed to the lure of playing dress-up. The party was awash in goofiness of the rib-tickling, nose-snorting variety. It transcended generations and genders, inflicting belly laughs indiscriminately.
Next time my son and new daughter visit, they have to bring their guest book which is full of photo booth pictures of the guests, along with their signatures and well wishes. I need a second look at one of the pictures. If my uncle’s neat and proper signature is beside the photo of the man in the blond wig and tiara, I’ll believe it really happened.
And if it did, I’m gonna rent a booth for my daughter and future son-in-law’s wedding in July. Apparently, this dress-up thing is in the blood, and I’m not gonna fight it. We’ll make it a family tradition instead.
To take a peek at the photos go to http://www.grandphotobooth.com/see-my-photos-login/. Here’s a handy index for some of the strips:
Strip 2 – my brother’s family
Strip 5 – my cousin and her husband
Strip 7 – another cousin and two of her girls
Strip 9 – my sister and her husband
Strip 10 – my husband’s twin and his wife
Strip 17 – the bride’s mom and her friend
Strip 18 – Hiram & me – notice who selected the same costume as his twin!
Strip 19 – my daughter and her fiance
Strip 23 – my daughter and her girl cousins spelling out the name of their one cousin who’s in Spain this semester
Strip 26 – the bride and groom
Strip 31 – my generation of cousins
Strip 33 – the groom and his grandma, my mom
Strip 34 – my mother with her sister and brother-in-law
