"Chandler, could you move this way?" the photographer said, pointing left. "Just a little more…perfect."
In a flash she moved her camera into position - and just as quickly Erica lifted her dress in front of her face.
Picture taking with 18-month-olds - it was completely priceless.
Monica wanted at least one family "portrait" for the grandparents for Christmas and Hanukah - a traditional, kids sitting on your lap smiling at the camera portrait.
"It's not happenin', Mon," Chandler said, pulling his shirt and tie away from his neck. Why on earth was it 80-degrees in October, anyway?
"I know," she mumbled as Jack squirmed his way off his father's lap and toddled toward the swing set, Chandler on his heels.
They only had 10 minutes left in their session with the photographer in the neighborhood park by their house and she was pretty sure they hadn't gotten one good shot, not one.
"I'm so sorry, Shelley," Monica sighed, standing and putting Erica on her hip.
Shelley waved her hand.
"Oh, don't worry about it, it happens all the time," she smiled at Monica. "I can stay a little longer - let them run around a bit and maybe that'll help."
Monica doubted it, but she mumbled "thank you." The twins had taken a three-hour nap. Three hours. Monica swore that whenever they needed to be out the door the kids slept like rocks. When they had nothing to do but stay home, they slept an hour - tops.
They were now wound up balls of energy - not in the mood to sit quietly in the least.
Not that they ever were.
Not that she'd have it any other way.
Erica stared squirming.
"Down!" She demanded and Monica put her on the ground, smoothing down her lavender dress.
She watched as Erica toddled after her brother and her Dad. Chandler turned back to Monica with a questioning look.
"Let 'em run," she said, with a shrug.
"In all their dressy duds?" he said raising his eyebrows.
Monica threw her hands in the air as if to say "what choice do we have?" Chandler smirked and turned his attention back to his kids.
He loosened his tie and chuckled to himself.
Having children, especially ones who just learned how awesome it was to walk, had mellowed his wife. She got more joy out of watching them run and playing with them than cleaning the house these days.
And he'd become more disciplined, he knew that. Having kids made him sit up and take notice of…everything. He had a family to support. No more running late to work or missing days entirely. No more hanging out on PlayStation when there were books to read or tummies to soothe.
They were a team, he and Monica, and they balanced each other out perfectly.
And, thank God, they were playing man-to-man most of the time because he'd learned a zone defense really wasn't sustainable.
He looked over and saw Monica and Shelley talking as Jack picked up a fistful of mulch and threw it down again, thinking it was the funniest thing in the world - and getting dirt all over his little suit jacket in the process.
Meanwhile, Erica was making her way up a slide.
Yeah, at the moment he was playing a zone.
"Can only hope to contain," he muttered to himself.
"Jack, don't do that," he said as his son squealed watching another clump of mulch hit the ground. Chandler scooped him up and took off his little jacket - the kid had to be hot - and hung it on one of the equipment posts by the slide.
He stood behind Erica as she made her way up what was, he would think, a pretty sizable slide if you were a toddler.
No fear - his kids just had no fear.
She made her way down with glee, Chandler holding her hand in his while balancing Jack on his other hip.
When she bounced up from the bottom Chandler's eyes got wide.
"Oops," he said, setting Jack down and gently brushing the back of her dress. "Daddy didn't know you'd have half the dirt from the slide flying down with ya."
"Fly-fly?" Jack said, bouncing up and down.
Uh oh.
"No, Jack, no fly-fly right now," he groaned.
"Fly-fly!" Jack demanded, grabbing onto Chandler's leg.
Then Erica caught on.
"Fly-fly!" she giggled, yanking on his pants.
He looked down at their little faces - Erica's tiny, blond curls bouncing up and down in time with her little dress, Jack's big blue eyes staring up at him.
He was screwed.
"OK, OK, real quick," he said, glancing at Monica. "Ahhh…"
And this was how it always started…they would "tackle" him and he'd dramatically fall to the ground. Then, one at a time they'd climb on his knees and he'd rock back to his back, his hands big enough to wrap around their little chests and he'd hoist them in the air while rolling back and keeping their feet on his bent knees. They'd stretch out their little arms as he'd rock back and forth and they'd all say "fly, fly, fly, fly" over and over again, ending up in a fit of little giggles.
"They wore him down," Monica laughed as she looked over at her little family. She and Shelley had rescheduled - she'd given up on the pictures today.
Shelley looked over and took off with her camera.
She laid down about 10 feet from the oblivious trio and snapped away.
###
"Hi Shelley," Monica smiled as she opened the front door, "I think we're all set today. Chandler will be down with the twins in a minute."
The reshoot was at Monica and Chandler's house this time, thinking the distractions at the park might have been too much for the curious "Dynamic Duo," as Chandler had started to call them.
"No problem," she said as she put her camera bag on the floor and handed Monica a white envelope. "Listen, you gotta see this. Oh, and it's on the house."
Monica gave her a quizzical look and then opened the envelop and took out the 8x10 black and white photo inside.
She looked at Shelley then back at the picture as her eyes filled with tears.
Chandler was flat on his back on the grass, in his suit jacket, holding Jack up in the air, his wedding ring catching just a touch of the sun's fading rays. Jack was looking down at his father, arms outstretched in his little bow tie and dress shirt. Erica sat close to Chandler's head, her lavender dress billowing around her, with both fists on Chandler's shoulder. Her big eyes looking up at Jack.
And all three had the biggest, open-mouthed smiles on their faces that Monica had ever seen.
"Oh," Monica said, putting her hand over her mouth as tears started to stream down her cheeks.
"This is just…it's just…" she couldn't even speak.
Shelley smiled gently at her.
"This," she said pointing to the photo, "is joy…"
NOTE: That one's been running around in my head FOREVER. Hope it brought a little "joy" your way today :)