We Are the Three Stooges in the Picture

My last essay assignment as a senior in high school was to choose a picture from my past and reminisce on who I was at that point in my life, who I am now, and the events that have forever changed me since then. I chose a picture of me, and my cousins Dan, and Mike, we were posing like a picture my Aunt Kathy found online of the Three Stooges. Not many people have read this essay, and I have worked on it, and made it as close to flawless as is possible for me, and I thought I would share it with you all.





I have always loved taking pictures because they help preserve the memories I cherish most, the times I spend with my family and friends. I remember a few years ago for Christmas I got my first digital camera, one that I could truthfully say was mine. As I searched the corners of my mind, and the corners of my over-filled folders in my "pictures" folder on my computer, every picture rings a bell, all 1,600[+] of them. They are pictures of everything from my cousin's school plays, to trips out of state, and even some trips trips down the street to one of my favorite places, my grandparent's house.
As I looked for pictures I found one taken the summer after my freshman year in high school. It is a picture of me and two of my cousins, Dan and Mike, posing like a picture we found online of The Three Stooges. They had just moved to Mesquite from Mount Prospect, Illinois, and they were staying with us temporarily. For those first few months the three of us were together all the time, not only because we shared a room, but also because since we had spent so much time apart we were enjoying the opportunity we had to spend time together. All three of us were going through major changes in our life, I was still adjusting to the life of a GT high school student, my cousin Mike was about to embark on his life as a middle school student in a new place, and my cousin Dan was about to really begin his life, starting college. Before any of us knew it, all three of us would be in a very similar place, and still together, almost three years later. My high school graduation is coming and I will be going to college in the fall, my cousin Mike will become the next North Mesquite Stallion in my family and my cousin Dan will be leaving in August for Austin, to begin the next part of his college life as a Longhorn.
As we continue our lives the ones we love will also be affected by the changes we encounter, but the pictures will remind us of how it was, and we will reminisce on those times as we continue to live our lives every day, and look to the future, all the while taking snapshots to capture those moments that only a picture can truly explain.
When I look at this picture I remember the nostalgia that we felt, just being us and being a family. I clearly remember the night we took this picture, my Aunt Kathy was browsing the Internet and found a picture of the Three Stooges and she thought of us immediately. She printed out the picture, and we instantly began messing around trying to recreate the picture. After a few tries and lots of laughs we finally got it right. The simplest things made us genuinely happy in that time and place in our past.
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The more time I spend looking at the picture the more details I remember, and the more changes I notice. Although the three of us are physically the same people, we have all moved on to a new chapter mentally and emotionally. We have changed tremendously in the past few years. I have gone from being a freshman, completely oblivious to what would happen that day, to being a senior, trying my hardest to predict what the future will hold, and counting down the days until the class of 2009 walks across the stage and out of North Mesquite, becoming a memory lingering in the halls, and hopefully an influential group that will forever change our lives for the better, and create more opportunities than those we are presented with in the future.
As we are getting older the three of us are taking on more responsibilities and becoming wonderful young men. As I look at the pictures, and remember the times we have shared and all of the things we have done, I cannot help but to hope that my nephew and all of the children in my family have the chance to be like we once were, living life to the fullest, without a care in the world just enjoying the days we had together as a family, and most importantly friends. I still firmly believe in living life to the fullest because we only have one chance to live, and as I have witnessed with my cousin Mark, and my Grandpa Ray, we must always remember that tomorrow is never guaranteed. The three of us still strive to live the lives we have always imagined, we have just learned that some things in life need to be taken with a grain of salt, and that together we can overcome anything; I think this truly has molded me into the person I wanted to be and am today, and will continue to shape me and help me become the person I want to be in the future.