And, in the background, a total stranger at the table behind ours waving his hands and grinning.
We had been photobombed.
Until my granddaughter pointed it out to me, I’d never heard the word “photobomb.” But, apparently, photobombing is cool. Social media provider Tumblr has included it on its year-end list of 2013’s hottest trends, along with fingernail art, unicorns and bacon.
I have no particular feelings about fingernail art or unicorns, although I’m all in favor of bacon, which I eat whenever my wife isn’t around to make me feel guilty about it. But I totally don’t understand why anyone would want to intrude his or her face into someone else’s photo.
Where’s the satisfaction? What’s the reward? Is there some thrill in being able to tell your friends, “Dudes, I just totally photobombed somebody’s family photo. I am so cool.”
I could get it, I suppose, if the jerk who inserted his face into our photo — ruining what would have been a keeper for the mantel — had been a little younger. Say, 6 years old. But he appeared to be 30-something.
Because I always do my best to be non-judgemental, I probably shouldn’t say the guy was a jerk, though. Perhaps he’d had one too many glasses of Chianti. And, as annoying as it was, being photobombed didn’t seem worth causing a confrontation, so I didn’t say anything to the guy. I wouldn’t want the memory of our evening my granddaughters took with them to the West Coast to be:
“We all went out for dinner and his guy photobombed us, so grandpa called him a jerk and the guy called grandpa an old fart and then grandpa pushed the guy and the guy pushed grandpa and grandpa lost his balance and landed on his plate of pasta bolognese. And then the manager came and threw us all out.”
But if you happen to read this, Mr. Photobomber, feel free to drop me a line the next time you have a family get-together.
I’m sure you’ll want my grinning face in your photos.
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