The Photograph

When: 06.21.2008
Where: Still sitting in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Seattle

They had come here to celebrate. And to document every second of the festivities so that their time could be remembered with something as close to clarity as the years would allow.

The four of them, friends since childhood, had managed to escape the clutches of higher education with only a few scars to serve as unwelcome reminders of unhappy times. Being separated by states and time for the last four years had been trying, but the pact they’d made the day they threw their caps in the air echoed in every second until – in different places this time around – they repeated the ritual with black caps. And so, they had come here to make good on that promise they’d made to enjoy life as soon as they were able.

Gathered in the lobby of their hotel, they paused to appreciate the milestone they had just checked off their lists. And the gravity of what was bound to happen after this last jaunt before a whole new reality set in came calling. Looking around, they located just what they’d been searching for. They handed the man a camera, and he nodded in understanding.

Sitting there – the four of them shoulder-to-shoulder for the hundredth, and now maybe last time – they smiled and blinked at the flash.

They all waited just a second longer than necessary before lifting arms from around shoulders.