Photo prompt: © Ted Strutz
They found the photo in his wallet. No address on its back. No date.
“This could be anywhere,” Deena said.
Neal sighed. He hadn’t seen Dad for years. The reclusive elder had been an aloof parent, and while Neal had yearned for more connection, it always took so much work … with scarce actual return.
“I know where it is.” Aunt Leah fingered the yellowed photograph. “It’s the Mendelsons’ house. I always suspected he and Meir had a thing. Such secret it had to be.”
She sighed and shook her head. “Such a shame. To have to hide love this way.”
For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers
Na'ama Yehuda 
So many hidden loves in the past, and today, so many reasons to hide it away
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Indeed, still too many in too many places still MUST do so, and then there are those who feel they ought to, in too many communities still. And it is such a loss of love to the world, and so much added anguish.
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Yea. And there are so many reasons, beyond those we more easily imagine
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True…
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Na’ama Y’karah,
Not that any affair isn’t hard to accept. But that one, particularly back in the day would’ve brought shame. Very sad for Dad and Meir. Sensitive and well written.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle … yes, in some communities it is still taboo and comes with a cost too high to contemplate. So many ended up consenting to marry those they did not wish to, just because it was the only option they found could be tolerable to others – or accepted in them. And hearts still pulled, for they could do nothing but. Whether one acted on their love or not.
Humans cause a lot of anguish in others that need not be there, do we not? And yet, there is also such a capacity for love. I’ll hold on to the latter as a true measure of what we can be … and are hopefully, eventually, evolving toward.
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I love the way the hidden secret unravels so easily to a little gentle detection
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There are those secrets one may think are better hidden than they truly are … and then there are the secrets one doesn’t really want to keep hidden and doesn’t know how to reveal, so one leaves bread crumbs with hope others will connect the dots … Who knows which kind of secret this was. Perhaps both …
Thank you for this comment!
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So sad the love had to be kept secret, and also so sad that they were estranged.
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Yes, the cost of someone having to hide a big part of themselves is that it may rob others of the opportunity to know the person fully … and when one’s heart is held hostage, they may not be able to love others as well as they might’ve otherwise.
Yes, very sad, and the story of too many, I suspect.
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I found that story very touching. In some ways, Dad was good in maintaining his marriage. He may well have been faithful. He may even have affirmed his choice of life partner every day despite his passion for Meir. But there was a cost, of course, not just for Dad, but for the family, especially Neal. Who can ever tell whether the cost was worth it?
Lovely nuanced story, Na’ama!
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Thank you, Penny! Yes, all that, and more … and such a good comment that explores the deep realities of secrecy and withholding part of oneself from others. And, how such realities, even when one chooses to forgo love for the sake of family (his family of origin, which might’ve been unable to accept his REAL love, and the family he was able to raise, or contribute to, in the ways he was able to), come with a cost. Secrets often do. Whether the price is one chooses to pay or is forced to pay or is exacted out of one without one’s understanding … it is always with a cost. And not always one that can be calculated for worthiness …
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Such a shame, I wonder how long that photo has been in his wallet, a reminder of his love and loss. Well done.
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Thank you, Iain. Yes, I wonder, too … Such complicated things, we humans are, eh? Thank you for the comment!
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I really like that last line.
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I’m glad this spoke to you! 🙂
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love always finds the way.
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It doesn’t doesn’t it? Easier if one can let it, though …
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social mores give structure but they rarely know how to handle exceptions well. I hope one day the need to hide consensual love comes to an end, but I think there will always be “forbidden” love in some form or another….
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Yes, mostly to control order and enforce conformity … But, yeah, exceptions aren’t always tolerated, though thankfully what is seen as an exception is not a stationary thing. Evolution is a good thing …
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So sad when love has to be hidden for fear of reprisal.
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Yes, very. And there are many who are older and are leaving life without having had an opportunity to love in the open, which is sadder still.
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That was quite moving in its way. The idea of an unrequited passion kept secret all those years, and a love perhaps once given but never again. Well done.
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Thank you, Sandra. A love that may have remained unfulfilled, or may have had to be hidden when it was partially sought, but either way a secret that was carried close and closed. Sad.
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So sad for all of them. Father and kids and perhaps their mother. Lovely story Na’ama!
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Thank you! Yes, secrets tend to do that, don’t they? They rob not only the person who had to keep the secret, but those who can’t have that person be fully themselves with them …
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This is very well written
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Thank you Jude!
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I enjoyed your take on the photo! Unrequited love, hidden or otherwise, is always painful.
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Thank you, Dora! Indeed, secrets can be painful, when they are kept to prevent other kinds of pain.
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Beautifully written, Na’ama. Things are not always what they seem and so many had to feel the pain from it.
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Thank you, Dale. Indeed, so many had hidden such big parts of their lives, the pain ended up oozing onto others.
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Yes. Without a doubt.
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xoxo here’s to finding one’s voice and finding room for one’s heart.
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Yes. xoxo
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xoxo
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How sad. And even sadder that for many people this is still a reality. Great take on the prompt, thank you.
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Thank you. And … yes, for too many this is still a reality. In some communities, and also in some countries where one must keep such secrets or face torture, imprisonment, and even death. Humanity still has a way to go toward requiring governments and citizenry to be humane.
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You don’t choose who to love it just happens, too often outside the marital home.
Here’s mine!
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Love between consenting adults just is. What one chooses to DO about it often depends on circumstances, tradition, community, perception, religion, history, etc … What is sad is how many cannot even openly struggle with their love, or share their anguish with others, because to even HAVE that love is to be shamed.
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I like it; the mystery of secret lovers and, as always, time will catch them out.
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And … sometimes the losses reverberate.
So sad that there are many whose love is forbidden and cannot even have a chance in the open.
Thank you, James!
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A deep story with a lot of sadness. For the son, who felt he was shortchanged, not receiving the love and time from his dad he desired. For the dad, who hid his love for another. Sometimes this is life. Nicely woven story, Na’ama.
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Yes, yes, yes. Exactly! You got it exactly!
Thank you, Brenda!
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Interesting setting for such a story. Well done, Na’ama.
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Thank you, Bill!
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Maybe it was better kept as a secret
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I don’t know. I think truth has the potential to heal, even if sometimes I agree that the timing might be so that it would rupture more than it could repair. Nonetheless, secrets tend to fester.
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