My Eli . . .

[pristidae]

I finally got around to scanning a photo of my "Eli" -- my wife, who in many ways reminds me of the film's Eli in both appearance and personality. Childhood photos of her are scarce, so best I could do is a pic from about age 8 (4 years younger than Eli), side-by-side with some screen captures of Lina as Eli. By the time this photo was taken she'd already lived through more hardship than many of us have to go through in a lifetime. An amazing woman, my wife...

[covenant6452]

You are a lucky man , sir! Take the most you can from a wonderful relationship, memories ae never enough!

[lombano]

She does look remarkably like Lina's Eli.

Congratulations on such a special relationship!

[cmfireflies]

Awwww....

[a_contemplative_life]

I agree. They really do look a lot alike! Except your wife's not bloodstained.

[pristidae]

I agree. They really do look a lot alike! Except your wife's not bloodstained.

Remarkably, her face is covered in blood from time to time -- she has a blood disease that occasionally makes her bleed profusely from her nose, mouth, nailbeds, etc when her cell counts are low. No photos of that, though -- (hey baby, wait, I'll get the camera!). Luckily, though, these events are less and less frequent.

First time she and I watched LTROI and she saw Eli bleeding in Oskar's apartment, she cried because it looked so much like how she bleeds. Now, she's very touched that I love LTROI, because of its personal meaning for us...

[Ninpo]

Thats sweet pristidae.

[pristidae]

Thats sweet pristidae.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments and encouragement. LTROI is certainly perspective changing -- I would never have imagined prior to watching this film that I would ever consider my wife's illness in any way "romantic."

[Wolfchild]

Your tale personifies one of the things that this film is trying to teach us. What is romantic is the notion that tragedy is no reason to pass up on love. It is not her illness that is romantic. It is your acceptance that is romantic.