This photo was taken circa 1938 at Clifton Beach near Karachi, Pakistan (then India). The woman on the far left is my birth mother, and the other people are her sisters and brother-in-law, who is holding his little daughter. The boy swimming behind them, the brother-in-law’s much-younger brother, was attacked by a shark seconds after this photo was taken. He lost his arm and quickly bled to death.
It’s scary to realize how abruptly things can change in people's lives.
Anyone else have “just before it happened” photos they’d like to share? Photos taken just before good things happened would be nice to see too. ("Just before" doesn't have to be mere seconds or minutes before a life-changing event occurred.)