The day goes pop.

 

If you’re a parent, then you know the joys that come from watching your children grow up. As a parent of three children, I’ve had the privilege of watching my babies grow and grow and…grow. My youngest is now 7 and as much as I plead with him, he , like his siblings before him, refuses to slow down his growth spurts. Every couple of months, *pop!* new clothes, or  *pop!* a new personality trait emerges, most of the time for the best.

I present to you, muscle man, aka, Fireman Robbie.

This young man goes nowhere without his ‘fire gear’. Shopping, the park, grandma & grandpas house…Ok, I draw the line at bringing his gear into the Kingdom Hall.

Today he brings me outside to photograph him in his fire gear. It doesn’t take much convincing to get daddy to pick up his camera. 

Within minutes, out comes the lights, the soft box, extension cords, sandbags, uh….am I going over board here? Hey, these are my kids we’re talking about! Now where are those wireless strobe triggers…

However today will turn out to be one those days…one of ‘pops’, Today Robbie pulls a fast one; in the blink of an eye, he goes from fireman to just Robbie.

As I am prepping my camera for the picture I have in mind, testing the lights, taking some test shots…I slowly become aware that my 7 year old is taking off all his ‘fire gear’. He’s suddenly not interested, in fact, he’s walking away from the whole thing. Walking away…my picture was walking away!

‘Hey buddy…where ya heading?’ I ask, ‘I don’t want my fire gear on, I’ve changed my mind’ Robbie says, his voice trailing off as he drops his helmet onto the green grass at his feet.

“Oh no you don’t young man. Daddy didn’t pull out all this gear for nothing!” I think to myself

“Hey there, show me those fireman muscles before you walk away” I quip

Right away a he flexes for me, poses for a second, then walks away. I didn’t quite catch the smile, but I captured the pose.

“Ok daddy, no more pictures” Robbie says, his back already turned towards me, ‘you’re embarrassing me’.

For Robbie, it was just another day with daddy and his camera, but for me, I watched my son take the next step, one of many ‘pops’ yet to come, on his way to becoming more than just my little boy.

Kevin Kratka