They didn’t realize what they’d caught. Not at first. Just a soft spring afternoon, cherry blossoms drifting like snow, and one more family photo by the Tidal Basin. Later, zooming in, the impossible became undeniable. A familiar profile. That easy, unmistakable smile.
They had gone to the Tidal Basin for something simple: a borrowed dress shirt for Dad, a wriggling toddler who wouldn’t stand still, the pink canopy of blossoms that made strangers pause and breathe. Portia only wanted proof that they’d been there together, that this gentle day had really happened. The photographer adjusted shoulders, tilted chins, and counted down, unaware that history was strolling into the frame behind them.
Later that evening, curled on the couch and thumbing through the images, Portia stopped cold. There he was, casual and unguarded, as if he’d wandered out of a newsreel and into their lives. The internet’s reaction turned their private astonishment into a public marvel, but what stayed with her wasn’t the virality. It was the reminder that history isn’t always distant; sometimes it brushes past you under the blossoms and keeps walking.