There we are, smiling into the camera, the four of us. A lie.
You go too far. Not a lie, SP. Different today? Yes, and I wish you weren't hurting. But it was true and goodness when those smiles were time stamped...not a lie.
True, but it's also true that looking at those old photos through a different lens changes everything. It's amazing when one looks at old photos how what knowing now what one didn't know then changes their meaning... but, to your point, they weren't lies at the time... and, the thing about photos is they can be imbued with different meanings by different people, and, through the passage of time different meanings by the same people, too...
Lie, truth...there is no answer. It just hurts. We have a lot to deal with on our ends and the pain of something so precious slipping away begs for some relief by comprehension. Of course, it is whatever you decide it is or was. And as AlexN says that will change over time and wont make it any more accurate. If I look back in twenty years and say "ha, I never really loved H, he wasn't right for me," won't make it true.
