Have you ever had one of those days? A day that begins completely ordinary, but magically turns extraordinary?
I had one a few weeks ago and have been meaning to write about it ever since.
The day started off very typically—-feeding my daughter breakfast and getting ready to tackle our to-do list. The one thing that made this day a bit different was the fact that there was not a cloud in the sky. It was an unbelievably beautiful spring day with above normal temperatures. After what has been dubbed by many around Wisconsin as the longest winter on record this day was one to treasure.
So I did what any heat seeking, Hawaii-bred individual would do, I ditched my to-do list and told my daughter that instead schlepping around to the dry cleaners, the grocery store, and Wal-Mart we would be heading to the zoo to soak up the sun.
And that’s exactly what we did. We drove to the zoo and wandered through the outdoor exhibits. My young daughter, who would ordinarily find at least a couple of things to voice her dissatisfaction about (be it a leaky water bottle, the stench from the barnyard animal display, a bug landing her, etc.) did not utter a single complaint the entire day. We laughed, we sang, we took pictures, we held hands, we strolled from exhibit to exhibit and we even shared a snack on a grassy knoll overlooking the lake.
It was by all accounts a picture perfect day. It was simple and beautiful and just one of those days where you are so at peace that if the world ended that night it would be okay.
So who could have imagined that our glorious day would be made even better by a complete stranger?
All day I had been snapping pictures of my daughter interacting with the animals and dancing from exhibit to exhibit. Before we called it a day I wanted to take a couple of pictures of the two of us together with the lake in the background to send to my parents. Only I forgot to pack my tripod, I didn’t get the XShot photo rod I wanted for Christmas and there wasn’t a single ledge, rock, tree stump or branch that I could set my camera on to activate the self timer. My only option was to ask someone at the zoo to take our picture.
As I mentioned in a previous blog I have no problem doing so it’s just a matter of finding someone you think will be a willing participant and who won’t end up making you look like the “Headless Horseman.”
That’s how my daughter and I met Jeanne. A kind, patient and sweet woman toting a Canon EOS 30D who insisted on using her professional camera (along with my far from professional one) and photo expertise to snap incredible pictures of two people she had never met before.
Not only did Jeanne provide me with stunning shots to send to my parents she also captured my new all-time favorite shot of my daughter.
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Since that day at the zoo I have thanked Jeanne a number of times for her generosity, good will, and random act of kindness, but I doubt she will ever know how much I truly appreciate the part she played in our picture perfect day.