by Cynthia J. Carvajal

Created on: September 20, 2009

Eye Of The Camera

He stands on the rocks at the river's edge watching his girlfriend dive into the cold river water. His long shiny hair is wet, his curls dripping down his back. His dark skin gleams in the warm sunlight from the water as it drips down onto his brown muscular shoulders. He appears so happy and content as he watches her, his gold rimmed glasses wet with water drops, a slight grin on his face.

What a beautiful moment. Many feelings rush over me as I watch this handsome young son of mine through the eye of my camera. A feeling of fierce pride rushes over me. I laugh to myself realizing he doesn't have a clue how beautiful he is. All his young life he's thought of himself as the ugly duckling of our brood. He's the second of four boys, and the strongest of the lot both in mind and in spirit. His loving and caring nature has always been a blessing to me. I ponder these thoughts as I peer through the camera lens wondering, watching, wishing I could stop time.

Abruptly he turns his head to look back at me, with a look of pure mischief twinkling in his eyes.

"Oh no! Don't you dare Albert Joseph Romero! Please don't!"

I laughingly beg him not to throw me in. He grins and instead dives straight into the cold clear water. His strong toned legs kick high in the air as he dives with his arms outstretched. I get the shot just as he hits the water with a loud splash! I can hear their voices carried by the wind in the warm summer breeze. Their laughter as they swim together in the chilly Merced river. I put my camera down and get ready to jump in. He's calling to me now..

"Jump mom! It's not that cold!"

I hesitate at the top of the rocks. Did he say cold? They look so far away, like small dark blobs bouncing up and down as they float down the riverbank... noisy blobs at that! They're taunting me now.

"Jump mom, hurry! You can do it!"

They think I won't jump! And they're right too. "Sorry guys! It's just too cold for me!"

I sit back on the edge of the rocks, getting my camera in focus. Once again I watch through the lens. He's laughing again. That sweet hardy laughter. "I wish I had remembered to bring the video," I mumble to myself, as I think back to when he was young. He's always had such a deep voice, even as a baby. All my friends used to call him 'little man' because he had the deepest sounding cry for such a little guy. We always knew which baby was crying when it was Al.

Once again my feelings of pride and love wash over me as I look through the camera lens. I click away, to catch as many pictures as I can of this moment in time. Pictures of my baby.. as I watch him, through the eye of the camera.

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