Mary –

“A big everyday change is just greetings and hugs when my husband comes home from work. We are a very affectionate family and normally for a photo we would have been sitting a little closer, arms around eachother, heads leaning together. But now because Ben is working in emergency medicine throughout this, we have a big procedure when he comes home. You caught us just as he had just pulled up from work so you can see him in uniform- and I kind of wanted that as part of this family memory – how Ben was working on the front lines of this.Before this we would have all had a big hug when he came home.

Now, Ben won’t touch us at all until he changes clothes and a has chance to scrub down.He leaves his boots outside the back door and his uniform goes right into the laundry, and only he touches it. Just that interruption of a simple kiss and hug hello when he comes home is a change I think about every day. Despite trying to stay positive for each others sake, the interruption reminds us of what danger we are all in. You can even see In the photo he is willing to sit next to me but he is sitting up very straight and trying not to even let his shoulder touch mine. It’s one of the things I actually like about the photo because in the years ahead it tells its own story.

Everything he does lately seems to bear the weight of someone else’s safety and health, even just a hug hello.”