OUR JOURNEY IN CAMO SHELLY HUHTANEN

Say Cheese

About two weeks ago, Mark realized that Broden's military ID card expired. If you do not have a military ID card, you can't get on the installation, and you can't access healthcare.

About five years ago,   my entire family rented a house on the southern tip of the North Carolina coast to celebrate our parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. I have fond memories of that vacation, because it is a rare occurrence these days to have everyone together under one roof. To instill our time together, my sister-in-law, Melissa, contacted a photographer and scheduled a time to meet us on the beach for a few pictures. Of course, there was a color theme assigned to everyone in the family. We were instructed to wear a shade of blue and the males were to wear khaki shorts, and if not in a blue sundress, the females wore white jeans. Everyone followed the assignment religiously, and our family 

was ready for a photo shoot fit for the latest coastal tourist guide.

THE REAL BRODEN: "The photographer said you can see his iPhone in the picture. I looked at Mark, 'Well, then that is the perfect picture. We'll take it.'"

Once the photographer met us at the beach, Melissa greeted her and told her everyone was here for the photo shoot. Melissa then discussed with the photographer that she wanted pictures with each family entity, and then all of us together. I stood back and watched Melissa work. Our side of the family is not known for their photogenic qualities, unlike my brother, Shaun's side of the family. The first group, Shaun's family, knocked it out of the park. They were professionals. Shaun's children were leaping into the air and performing beautifully. The photographer would say, "Yes! Just like that! Do that again. Beautiful. Fantastic. Yes!"

The photographer looked over at Mark and me, "Ok. You're next." I looked at Mark uncomfortably and said under my

breath, "This is going to suck." I looked at Broden and said, "We're just going to take a few pictures, and then you can take a break." He clasped his iPhone in his hand and shrugged his shoulders up yelling, "Say cheese!" Mark and I looked nervous, and painfully smiled. The photographer sounded less enthusiastic with our family, "Ok. Well, can he move his iPhone down a little? Hayden, can you bring it in a little bit? Ok, alright. I think I got a few that we can work with." I wanted to cry. Well, jealously, I first wanted to tell my brother and his wife that they suck, and then I wanted to cry.

After she took some pictures of my parents, we then squeezed in together to get a few shots of us under the pier. Broden screamed, "Say cheese!" I think there was some talk of