Makeover Madness

Tomorrow's my big day. As a photographer, it's one of my biggest shoots of the year. I'm a bundle of nerves, as I am prior to any wedding or family reunion or charity event I'm shooting. I always worry for days in advance the camera will malfunction, the strobes won't fire, or I'll be blond and forget to check my settings before I start. I don't want to do anything wrong!

Readers who have been following along might be curious about the biggest "big service project" I do every year. Those who know me know not to ask anything of me or expect anything of me during November and sometimes early December.

What's it all about?

A group of friends and co-workers make an annual pilgrimage with me each year to a residential treatment center for high-risk teen girls. My friends and co-workers do the hair and makeup of the girls closest to emancipation and graduation. One of my co-workers poses the girls like fashion models (and tries to make each girl believe she is beautiful on the inside and out), and I then shoot approximately 600 glamor-type portraits in about eight hours.

I will then spend the next month or so retouching the girls every waking minute I'm not at work or church. This is where it gets sad. Some of the girls have horrendous complexions. I fix them. Many of the girls have scars. I fix them. Some have facial tattoos they regret. I fix them. Some are meth addicts and will not smile because they don't want their teeth to show. Ever. I fix them. I don't Christmas shop. I Photoshop. :)

Then I make movies choreographing still photos to cheery, motivational music, a movie for each girl, and then burn DVDs they each get to keep.

My mother-in-law and a co-worker pay to print all the photos, and several other co-workers donate and assemble photo albums. We also stuff the albums with motivational quotes printed on fancy paper with fancier fonts.

Almost all of my co-workers and many friends and loved ones who've become involved with the project over the years donate gift bags and things to go inside them. Socks, jammies, pillow cases, shower scrubbies, scented soap, stuffed animals, lip gloss, journals, candy, colorful pens, makeup, shampoo, perfume, stickers... things teen girls love. And each girl gets a handmade scarf. A very fancy handmade scarf.

For the last two months, my co-workers, some of whom don't craft or make handmade things any other time of year, have been cranking out scarves, just like they do every year, to make sure each girl knows someone cares about her. Someone who doesn't even know her cares enough to make something especially for her.

Once we have the names, another co-worker will machine embroider each girl's name on ribbon, and the ribbons will be affixed to the gift bags.

After a bag-stuffing party, we cherish the delivery party. That will be sometime in December. It happens before Christmas. But it's Christmas for those of us who do it. It's what Christmas is all about. Some of us don't fully experience the meaning behind Christmas without something of this magnitude. To see these girls' faces as they dive into those bags, flip through their photo albums and then excitedly trade wallet-sized photos with each other... words cannot describe.

Before and after photos would tell such a story, but that's never going to happen. Some of the girls go out on a limb to trust us, and some of them need bunches of coaxing. Then they receive their gift bags, and we behold them transform. Like magic.

One day I will share why I am so emotionally connected to this project. (No, it's not what you think. I was quite the opposite growing up, a "total goody two shoes," according to my adopted daughter.) For now, I'll just say Makeover Madness has been an emotional makeover for me through the years.

This year, I've been asked to talk to one of the girls, one on one. Three or four years ago, I would have been intimidated. I don't know that I could have done it. Time truly does heal all wounds. Time, and sometimes a little service to others who are hurting.

Now, I feel honored to have been chosen. I feel blessed. I'm excited to be valued, and I look forward to the opportunity to possibly make a difference in the life of a girl in need of a shoulder, a connection and a positive role model.

Bottom line: With this, another 109 miles I'm determined to log on my bike before the end of the year and my first-ever public craft fair in just two weeks, Snowflake Mondays and Wordless Wednesdays will continue while I zit zap, but I can't guarantee I'll be posting as frequently during the next few weeks. So if you don’t see me, nothing's wrong. I'm just not connected to the internet while I'm Photoshopping. But I'll be back; I promise!

Tweet

Pin It