Can you see the real me?

Over the Christmas break I had a couple of photographs taken of me that I like for completely different reasons. The first is one that was taken by a professional photographer, James Brokensha, and was part of a surprise present given to Jane and me by our daughters. Without us knowing, they’d hired Jim to take some family portraits of us while we were in Devon. The results are brilliant (even though in my case he had to work with some distinctly average material) and Jane is currently in the process of ordering lots of prints.

The image below is from the end of the session when we all had individual pictures taken. I love this one in particular because I look relaxed – I was – and most photographs of me look as if I’m a rabbit caught in headlights. I also like to think that it shows that I have considerable depth of character … (ahem).

The second was taken while we were out walking the Raptor Trail in Haldon Forest. I was particularly disappointed as we didn’t see a single dinosaur, let alone a raptor, anywhere on the trail. I bet no-one saw any butterflies on the butterfly trail on the day we were there either. So obviously, to counteract the disappointment, here’s a selfie of me pretending to be a raptor with the long-suffering Jane.

Other than the sheer comedy value this photograph has, the reason I’ve posted it here is that it’s the first photograph of me that I’ve seen which shows a noticeably enlarged lymph node directly under my ear. It’s clearly the angle that I’m holding my neck at that makes it so pronounced, as you can barely see it in the first photograph taken a day or so later.

Of course, the “real me” is neither and both of these photographs at the same time. The mantle cell lymphoma may be advancing, but I refuse to let it define me. Equally, I’m rarely the calm, collected, all-wise professional that the first photograph suggests. (Stop laughing – I can hear you!)