I was going to ask if these were your parents, but don’t take this the wrong way, they seem a little young. I mean, it’s not you, it’s them. At some point, they absolutely will be your parents. But they’re still making the journey, still willing to fake happiness for the relationship. This is the “Before” picture…but not quite. A couple holding hands, looking at the journey ahead, and realizing that if they don’t take an offramp that leads to a Czechoslovakian bakery or something, the road starts going uphill and there isn’t any down.
“Smile. This is your last happy photograph, so smile. Okay, remember when you were last happy, so we can at least catch the fading light of happiness on film, so when you’re 60 you can remember when you remembered happiness.”
Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but every time someone donates their family pictures, I can’t help wondering, who are they? and, what went wrong?
You know they’re both totally settling, here. This was a relationship of the last two people standing. “The vows said honor and cherish. I can just about do that. But they never said anything about touching. How long is this damned photographer going to take? The bars close at 2:00 AM, after all.”
Goodwill on Slaughter and South 1st, Austin
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