5 days ago
Netizens moved by elderly couple's story seen through Google Maps
A Facebook post showing the life of an elderly couple captured through Google Maps images has gone viral, drawing widespread attention from Filipinos around the world.
The post, first shared by Bulacan Trending Stories , featured a yearly series of satellite and street view photos showing the same couple outside a small house in Bulacan from 2015 to 2025. As of this writing, it has over 316,000 likes, 3,900 comments, and 124,000 shares.
In the first image from 2015, the couple is seen seated beside their home, eating together from a single plate. In 2016, the same spot captured them again—this time on different chairs, still close to each other.
But by 2017, only the grandmother appeared, quietly seated and staring ahead. Her partner was no longer in the frame.
By 2018, she had moved closer to the door, looking frailer than before. In 2020, she was back in her usual spot but looked confused and tired, her hand supporting her chin, as if waiting for someone who would never return.
In 2021, she could barely walk, and her figure was a shadow of her past self. The next year, 2022, the blue door of their home was tightly shut, and she was nowhere to be seen, gently suggesting that she might have followed her beloved.
By 2023, the house had overgrown grass, faded paint, and unused chairs stacked to the side. In 2024, the yard was cleaned, but the silence remained. Then in 2025, only bare ground was left—no house, no signs of the lives that once lived there.
The changes were documented by Google Street View, which updates its images over time as part of its mapping services.
The post sparked emotional reactions from social media users. One commenter wrote, 'Life is short to live. Take care [of] your spouse because they are the last person in your life. Hope this will remind everyone that [it] is the cycle of our life.'
Another said, 'This does actually make me sad,' while a third shared, 'Naiyak din ako… Parang ang lungkot pero ganito talaga ang realidad ng buhay.'
