THE DIGITALLY RESTORED MARRIAGE -- A STORY
Jerry Nelson
I digitally restored an old 1949 color slide for a neighbor, a widow. She
had let me race through her collection looking for historic shots of bombed out
Germany (a part of my own childhood) when I spotted this one -- husband and wife
in a perfect pose on one side of an otherwise forgettable flash photo. He was
recently out of West Point, she had had the family's first grandchild -- they
were radiant, perfect.
I surprised her with a color enlargement.
She surprised me by sobbing uncontrollably. You put an arm on the
shoulder, what else can you do but wait.
What's wrong? Why are you crying? The obvious, stupid
questions.
"Because I want, I would do it all over."
??
"The marriage. I would live the whole marriage over again right now if I
could."