Eleven years ago

When I was 13 I had my portrait taken in dance class. The town's resident crazy artist decided to document the citizens and he was in our dance class one day. In the photograph my body is facing the right but my head is turned and I'm staring directly at the camera. I had my hair in some sort of pig tail thing. My features are young. My face is round. My eyes seem large. But what makes the picture is the look I'm giving the camera. It's so stern. There is almost a flicker of anger behind the eyes. The hair may say 'child' but the eyes say adult.

Today I was cleaning my apartment. I was wearing some sort of fitted tank top thing and my hair pulled back into pig tails. I was picking up something in the bathroom and as I lifted up I caught my reflection in the mirror. It was the exact pose of that portrait taken nearly 11 years ago. I had completely forgotten about that photograph until now.

The hair is longer. The eyes seem more tired. The woman is in an entirely different stage of life. But that flicker of... seriousness. Anger. Something. It's still there.

I wish I had a copy of the photograph to illustrate what I'm talking about. But I have no idea where it is. Probably in a box somewhere in Pennsylvania.