Behind The Awkwardness

When Bears Don’t Attack

“This is me at our annual family vacation- it was the NC mountains. Note the bear less than 20 feet behind me. It just raises all kinds of questions. And explains a lot.”

(submitted by LC)

Swan Lake

“This is a picture of me and my husband on our wedding day (obviously). We were posing for the photographer and this swan goes after my bouquet! The timing was just right and the photog captured the swan right as it went for it.”

Shiner

“This is a family photo taken after I ran into a wall…. unfortunately the portrait appointment was already scheduled. The show must go on!”

(submitted by Elizabeth)

Seacup

“My in-laws live on a farm in central Virginia. One particular afternoon I wanted to get some photos of my father-in-law. Naturally he was outside tending to his horses. This horse needed some shots and we all know horses don’t comply when they see the ‘needle.'”

(submitted by Chris)

Center of Attention

“It was just after my fourth birthday when my mom and dad decided it would be fun to take my older sister Lauren and I on a vacation to a ski resort in Michigan. The trip would have been a good chance for some family bonding, but since I was too young to be in their ski group, I got sent to the “ski babies” club.

When my mom came to pick me up at the end of the day, she saw that I had been put underneath a table with a homemade sign that read “timeout”. She was then informed that I wasn’t welcome to come back the next day because I had used “extremely inappropriate language.”

Frustrated, she took me back to the cabin where we were staying and left me to play a board game with my sister, while she tried to figure out what on earth she was going to do with me for the duration of our stay. We had been playing Hi-Ho! Cherry-O for a while, and I really had to pee. Really, really had to pee. Lauren kept daring me to leave, but I knew her ways. She was a sneaky cheater when it came to these games. Given my competitive nature, there was no way I was going to let that happen. I figured I would just wait it out, but it was getting pretty difficult. I had a feeling that if I went pee right there, there was a chance nobody would even notice. So I took my chances and peed in my pants. As I finished going, my mom called my sister and I into the other room so that we could take a photo. When she saw what had happened, she was so fed up with me she made the decision to take the photo anyway. When we returned from our vacation she sent out the picture for a Happy New Years card to family and friends. To this day when I am reintroduced to old family friends, they say, ‘You don’t remember me, but I’ll never forget that picture of you peeing your pants!’”

(submitted by Alex)

White Out

“I didn’t wear my goggles skiing, went snow blind, and got these patches while my eyes healed. My dad took this photo of me and my ski instructor (who he was trying to make feel guilty/teach a lesson) the next day. I love this picture and I love that my dad would document something like this. I am sure Tony did too.”

(submitted by Elizabeth)

Cinderfellas

“This is my 8th birthday. My mom’s gift was to dress up as Cinderella, and dress up my uncles as…. I have no idea!”

(submitted by Sofs)

Love, Love, Love

“This is my little brother Sam and I about 1984. I have no idea what he just did to me but I’m sure it was rotten. He’s a smug little monster isn’t he? I love, love, love my lil bro.”

(submitted by Tessa)

Bones

“This is a photo of me, age 11, and my brother, David, age 15, Christmas 1970. My brother has a dislocated shoulder (wrestling), and I have a broken arm (sledriding). My mother happened to be out of town when I got hurt, and when she got home she told me to quit fooling around and “take that off,” because she thought I was faking it to get attention. Add this to my three concussions, and the 7 times my sister needed stitches in her head, and its no wonder my mom was not happy!”

Neverland

“I’ve played the harp since I was seven. We hosted a recital at our house for all my teacher’s students, which is why there are three harps in the room. But there are so many things I can’t explain about this. Why am I wearing the shirt and hat from my Peter Pan costume from Halloween about five years earlier? Why am I only wearing the top half of this costume, paired with black jeans tucked into weird ankle boots? Why am I wearing a liter of lipstick at the age of nine? Why did I ever have that haircut? The world may never know.”