A Tiny, Forgotten Photo On a Cellphone

I’m not too high tech. I have a very simple tracfone which I do not use very often. Today I was looking at the four photos I have saved on it. The one I use as my phone background is of a barrel cactus in bloom. One of the three other photos is a blurry picture that puzzles me as to what it is, the two other snapshots are of my ex-boyfriend, Alex, the man I fell in love with. Those cellphone photos of him are a couple of years old.

One of the photos of Alex is a candid photo of him watching TV. There’s no flash so it’s kind of a murky picture. The other photo was where I asked him to stand in the light of a window so I could get a good picture of him. I intended to use it as the phone background picture but I never did. I remember that he played with his hair for a few seconds, and actually put a little bit of effort into smiling. Nevertheless, the picture was terrible. It was very unflattering. The instant I saw it I giggled. Alex shook his head in some faint annoyance. But the photo was good enough for me so I closed the phone and thought no more about it. Until today I forgot that it was on my camera’s memory. I remember that I liked the fact that Alex put some effort into looking good for my photo, albeit slight effort. There was something about that I found endearing. I can’t explain it, but I felt it.

I then recalled one Saturday morning a few years ago when I happened to glance out our apartment window and there was Alex, looking over my car's tires, inspecting the tread and checking the tires’ air pressure. I watched him as he went around the car, checking every tire. It made me feel very good. I actually got chills, just seeing what he was doing.

Then there was this one evening I was standing at the kitchen counter making us a couple of salads. Alex came in and without saying a word, stood beside me. As he stared out the window there, he put his arm around my shoulders and began gently massaging my upper back. I kept making the salads, but I was very aware of what he was doing, as insignificant as his actions may have been. He had done similar niceties many times, but for some reason this one particularly warmed and delighted me.

One weekend day we were out hiking. Unlike me, Alex wasn’t really into hiking, but I could get him out every once in a while. As we were going along a trail with me in the lead, he called for me to stop. I turned and he pointed down to my bootlace, which had become untied. He knelt down and ordered me to put my untied boot upon his knee. He tied my bootlace and then looked up and gave me a smile.

That’s what one tiny, old, cellphone photo did today.