Show &Tell: My Favourite Picture of Me

Do you have a favourite picture of yourself? Maybe a picture with a beloved family member, or one where you look especially good? My favourite picture of myself is almost 20 years old. Actually, now that I think about it, it's from 19 years ago this month. It serves as my mental image of myself. (That sounds only slightly pathetic.)

In the picture I'm only 15 years old. I have horribly frizzy permed hair and my glasses are huge enough to rival Sally Jesse Raphael (anyone remember her?). I'm wearing an acid wash denim jacket covered in New Kids on the Block graffiti. And it's really not the best quality picture either, sort of grainy and not really in focus.

That's what's wrong with it.

What's right with it? My smile. I remember I was laughing my ass off (and it was a significantly smaller ass than I have now). I don't have any other pictures of me where I look so... happy. Don't get me wrong, I love my wedding pics, but they fall into the romantic category. This one gets the prize for pure joy.

Here's the story: When I was 15 years old I was privileged enough to participate in a foreign exchange program. I had always wanted to go to Germany, to see my grandmother's homeland. When I was in grade 9 I began to take German in school, and through my teacher I found out about the program. My exchange partner came to Canada in August and left in November. I went to Germany in April and came home in July. Let me tell you, traveling that far from home, for that long, when you're only 15 is a very daunting experience.

This particular school year was the 1989-90 school year. Pop quiz... what major world event happened in October of 1989? That's right kids... the Berlin Wall opened. It was the beginning of the end of the cold war.

As I said, I arrived in Germany (still West Germany at that point) in mid-April, and got settled in with my host family. About a week after, all the Canadian exchange students got to travel to Berlin for a week. One of the first sites we visited during our time in that beautiful city was the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie (the Allied border crossing into East Berlin).

That day was a roller coaster of emotions, even for a 15 year old. Standing in what they called the 'Dead Zone', the narrow strip of ground between the East and West sides of the city, it was the first time I had ever truly been humbled by history.

Along the Wall were several panhandlers/entrepreneurs out to make a little cash. For a small fee you could borrow their hammer and chisel to try to chip off your own piece of the Wall. That's where the above picture came from. I was trying with all my might to chip off even a tiny piece on my own, but it just wasn't happening. In the end, I ended up buying one of my most cherished keepsakes from one of those entrepreneurs... my own piece of history.

Now don't forget to stop by Mel's place and check out what the rest of the class is showing this week!