But every now and then I stumble into a moment that compels me to violate my own unwritten rules. There are sad photos and happy photos and indeterminate photos ... but this photo is at once happy and sad. Karoline had been weeping softly at a picture of a young niece she hasn't seen in some time, and then looked up at me and found something that comforted her just a bit. It was a moment that lasted but a second--eyes moistened by regret, a smile breaking open despite itself.
Some time later, as I studied this photo, it struck me that Karoline's smile was the human equivalent of soft sunlight breaking through the clouds to illuminate a rain-slickened street.
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