family_picture tender_square his parents had been wanting to get a new family photo for years, something to put on their christmas postcard so they could send it to everyone on their address list and show their wealth of riches and love. but covid put that kibosh on that. she and her husband didn’t really understand his parents obsession with the portrait, but they knew it made them happy. she had never been in a photo with his family, save for their own wedding and his sister’s wedding. the closer they got to traveling across the country though, the guiltier the wife felt. wasn’t it dishonest for her to put her arm around the man she married and grin? what if they didn’t make it until the holidays, would his family’s card be ruined, then? but on the day of the picture, one her husband’s step-siblings emailed the group to say her family would not be able to make it; one of her sons was sick with strep throat and they had to, regrettably, cancel. and the wife was secretly grateful for this, because no matter what the future held, the family portrait was going to be incomplete and imperfect to begin with. none of them could plan for all contingencies. 220508 what's it to you? who go blather from