what is happy 10th? well, it's nothing more than the date when anthony and i became a couple in May of 2007, an excuse to - for 1 extra day every month - feel a little more festive than normal, or a reason to try and go out to dinner, slow things down, and talk.
it started out quite simple: i love polaroids and had gotten anthony's mom's old one-step camera for a passed down xmas present, and somewhere in some random moment the idea came to me. anthony said "sure...sounds fun," and the project was officially underway.
making sure i had polaroid film on me during each 10th became a monthly challenge, a fun little race that sometimes left me anxiously checking the mailbox during the 1st through the 9th since i was almost always relying on ebay for my supply.
even so, my tendency to snap up polaroids once i've got a fresh pack of 10 sometimes left me with few or no pictures, and i'd often be ordering back-up packages during odd hours of the night.
we'd always take at least 2 or 3 different shots (assuming we had enough film) and then select the one we liked the most, pin it up to our bulletin board, and watch the calendar grow.
early on in the year, we started brainstorming different poses and themes for each photo, wanting the line of shots to be varied and colorful. we also noticed a pattern of me always showing up on the right side of the photo - standing to anthony's left - and tried to break that pattern during the 2nd half of the year.
by the end of the year, we realized we had done something much greater than we'd planned on doing. on the 10th of December, late in the evening, we took our last official photo and pinned it up with all the rest; then we sat on our bed and reminisced about the wonderful year together. looking at the collection all at once we realized how much fun we had, how happy we are, and how important it is to enjoy those little moments in life: the spontaneous dinners, the clear and sunny days at the park, hanging out next to each other on our computers - our minds in different worlds but our feet playfully touching - and even the occasional donut breakfasts. we contemplated January 10th of 2010 and how weird it'll be not taking a photo. and then we realized that this project was never just a 1 year deal to begin with; this is our life.
we will take another photo on 1-10-10, and we may even designate a new camera for the new year. either way, i am grateful for my insane love of film and how it has inadvertently caused me to document my life.
i like polaroids, i like stories, and i like alternate endings.
