I don't have my glasses on in this photo. It could be one of the many times I lost them (once left on the running board of a parked car, which of course promptly drove away; once in the rafters of a house under construction . . .) Now, of course, I can't even turn on the computer without the glasses. I've worn them since I was two; they are as much a part of me as my thumbs.
When I found this photo I related to it at once. We have boxes of old family pictures, now distributed among the siblings, but most of them don't speak to me as intently as this one. She seems to be separate from the crowd of children (maybe she'd rather be alone with a book somewhere), slightly smiling, faintly knowing. This is a lot to put on a five year old. But for me, she's still there inside my head