Wrath

     Yesterday was a hazy, lazy last day of July and I had a weekday off from work.  A meeting was called by those of us who are trying to walk the fine line between preservation and commercialization in our White River National Forest.
     Our (all of us) Forest Service's budget had been slashed and burned like loggers through old growth by this administration and now they are trying to find ways to come up with the money to keep some of our nation's treasures not only up to snuff, but simply open in general.
     Here in the Maroon Bells Wilderness Area the Forest Service has been struggling with simple upkeep issues, finding ways to keep the bathrooms clean, the roads clear of mud slides and the myriad other mundane things that have to happen in order to have this jewel of nature open to the public.
     They have been wanting to sell items at  the visitors center for some time, but also trying to strike that balance between overt commercialization and some semblance of decorum as well.
     That's what the citizens meeting was all about.
     As I don't go anywhere without my camera, it and all the attendant stuff that seems to collect goes along as well.
     My friend was also going to the meeting, but as it was her nanny's day off, and no boyfriend to help herd the twins, I was hastily recruited to help with the herding.
      Now, don't get me wrong, the twins are some of my favorite subjects for photos and this one has learned just how to operate my cameras, flashes, tripod and light meter.  So, I was pleased to be included in the post-meeting eating of snacks and taking of pictures.
     The twins are as different as can be in personalities and I love this photo as it so clearly shows them off.
     The photo is out of focus, it was too slow of a shutter speed for the rapidly advancing Janette, yet, as most telling photos go, it says more than a carefully prepared and staged photo ever could.
     Janette had been taking photos of everything and anything with what she calls, "the big camera".  I snap it on the tripod for safety reasons, shrink the tripod down to a three year-old size and she snaps away, giggling at every shot as it briefly appears on the screen.
     She centers each shot, mostly, and a lot of them turn out quite well.  However, it was snack time and she left the camera alone for a bit.  That's when I made my mistake.
     I took the camera off the tripod to take a few more of them in this lovely wooded setting when she spotted me with "her" camera, as she will tell you.
     All I heard was a loud, "No!" and I turned to see her advancing on me shaking her little hand at me, snacks firmly in her grasp.  I raised the camera and snapped this shot, not knowing just what, if anything I had got.
     Later, there it was.  The stern face of a little girl scorned, mad at losing possession of something she knew was rightfully hers.
     But there in the background was her twin sister.  Her eyes were rolling as she knew another tantrum was unfolding, but she was safe in her mom's arms, so all was well.
     The two girls separate and different personalities were never more clear than in this slightly fuzzy photo.
     Jackie will contentedly sit and watch her ant farm, fish tank or simply float leaves and grass downstream for hours.
     Janette will be the one running around, taking my hat and claiming it for her own, learning just how to shoot a Canon 1DS, but not being quite strong enough to hold it up on her own yet and generally directing the activities as she sees fit.
     Jackie will mostly go along as long as she can still do what she wants, participating or not, but always observing.  She likes my cameras, but not to take photos.  She likes to take them apart.
     I have to keep a couple of "throw-down" camera with me to let her tinker with.  In moments the batteries are out, memory cards are removed, lenses twisted off.  Then, just when I think she has lost interest in them, she will hand them back all back together.
     She knows these camera don't work, and that's fine.  Her sister will thrust the camera at me, stating, "Not working!"
     And so, I find myself feeling so lucky that I get to be a part of this wonderful thing called growth.  Watching them change, develop, shift into their own sense of self and just become who they are.  As I don't see them all that often, I think I see the little changes a bit more clearly from the perspective of distance and time.
     As both girls are recently fond of saying, "Amazing!"