Photos Keep Memories Alive
During our Heart-Strong road trip through the South and Texas, Becca and I visited Grandpa Bill in Dallas. He’s 101 years old. He flew for Braniff International Airways, skied and rode motorcycles into his 90s, and still gets in trouble for driving his motorized wheelchair too fast down the hallways of his assisted living facility. The family calls him Grandpa the Great. The nickname fits.
Over lunch, we introduced him to AI. We took a photo of him in his wheelchair and ran it through an image generator. The first put him back in the cockpit of a plane. The second had him riding a Braniff 747 like a horse. Then I put the two of us on a motorcycle together, riding down 75 with the Dallas skyline behind us. His smile went ear to ear. His daughter thought it was real.
The photos weren’t real. But the feeling was. AI gave a 101-year-old man a moment of riding free again. It also fooled his own daughter. Both of those things matter.
When we walked out to the parking lot afterward, a stranger had left printed photos on our car with a handwritten note. “Photos keep memories alive.” No name. No explanation. Just the pictures and the words.
One set of photos was made by a machine. The other was left by a human hand. Both were about keeping something alive that matters.
Read the full piece on Substack.
Learn more about the adventure at www.heart-strong.org.
