What would life be like if our emotions were reflected in a mirror that we could see instantly?

We’d see ourselves getting angry, losing patience and falling into sadness. We’d see ourselves as the world sees us.

It’s got to be an out-of-body experience. We as humans aren’t programmed to see ourselves much beyond the bathroom mirror. Our voices sound funny when they are played back. Our facial expressions are almost foreign on video camera.

But every once in a while we do see our own lives from the other side. Melinda Thomas and Gail Jenkins experienced just that Friday night at the annual Relay for Life, and their reactions rippled through those around them.

The women were featured in a photo on the front page of the Saturday newspaper. Melinda was wrapping her arms around her sister, Gail, during the luminary service.

The luminary service is perhaps the most poignant of the entire Relay experience. Soft music plays while the names of those lost to cancer scroll on a screen for all to see. Children, dressed in all white as angels, tiptoe around the track holding signs that say “Quiet, please.”

For anyone touched by cancer, and even those that aren’t, it’s a time to remember grief and happiness at the same time.

Our photographer, Steve VanGunda, snapped a quick photo of Melinda and Gail in what Melinda later described as a “weak moment.”

Her eyes were filled with tears. Her face showed sorrow. But her arms — wrapped around her sister — showed strength, support and love.

The women weren’t far from where our staff was putting the newspaper together at the Relay site, projecting our work on a large sheet as we went. Only a few minutes after Steve took the photo, we had it placed on the front page and projected for all to see.

Then Melinda and Gail walked by again. I was lucky enough to see their initial reaction, which was a bit of shock. Then, quickly, the emotions the two ladies were feeling when the photo was taken seemed to sweep back over them. Seeing themselves in the moment was emotional in itself.

Only seconds after that they saw Steve, approached him, thanked him and gave him a hug.

The two sisters lost their father to cancer years ago, and Relay for Life has become an annual staple ever since.

They were saddened and overjoyed at the sight of themselves on the newspaper page. But the newspaper was merely the messenger.

For the women, our front page — in the smallest of ways — helped them see their grief. It gave them a window into their own lives that they might not otherwise have had.

And as I told Melinda that night, the photo doesn’t show her weakness. It shows her strength.

The newspaper didn’t make that moment. Steve — though he’s a good photographer — didn’t make the photo awesome.

The strength and love of Melinda and Gail — like that of hundreds of others at Relay — made the picture perfect.

Life is about moments. Our job at the newspaper is to capture those moments so that all of you can later see yourself in a new light. We enjoy that role, but without your sadness, your joy, your agony and your life we’d be out of a job and awfully bored.

Melinda and Gail made a memory for us Friday night. They showed Steve the power of his camera in a way that no newsroom lecture I can give ever will.

To them, and to all of you, we owe a big thank you. Thanks for sharing your strength with us and with the world.

Julie Finley is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com.