As far as I can remember, I've only had my picture in the paper two times. Once was in fourth grade, when a picture of me with some friends at the elementary school science fair showed up in the local paper.
The other time was when Jeremy and I lived in American Fork in 2004. I was working at a translation company in Provo at the time and a reporter and photographer from The Daily Herald came in to do a piece on the company for the business section. The photographer took a lot of pictures around the office and even sat in on a teleconference training session I was conducting with a translation team in Spain. Gee, THAT didn't increase my nervousness level at all. Later, I got to show the reporter how our translation software worked so she could have a better grasp on the company when she wrote her article.
Nothing came of it for a few days, and since I didn't subscribe to that paper myself I figured I'd see the article, if it ever appeared, at work some day. Then one Sunday I went to church and several people in the congregation told me they'd seen my picture in the paper that morning, in the Business section. On the front page.
I hardly lasted through all three hours of church. As soon as we got home, I borrowed a copy of the paper from the people whose basement we lived in. Here's what I saw:
Not bad, I guess, for a newspaper picture (almost) debut. I remember thinking that maybe I should have worn some makeup, or fixed my hair some other way, but otherwise, I came out ok. It's about as good of an action shot as you could get at a translation company, don't you think? The blur on my typing hand really sells it.
When I went back to visit my old office last summer, this newspaper clipping was still framed on the wall. I wasn't sure how strict the receptionist would be about letting me wander around the office, seeing as I was a stranger to her. I had a contingency plan all ready, where if she gave me any trouble, I'd just point to the framed picture on the wall and say, "that's me." And then she'd let me in.
It never came to that. I kind of wish it had. It gives a little boost to my worn-down-by-motherhood ego to read the words "Bridget Palmer teleconferences" in the photo caption. Ah, yes, I did teleconference, back in the day, thank you very much.
Sadly, my teleconferencing days are over, but at least I have this moment of glory in The Daily Herald to look back on.