A restoration decides which moment in an object’s long life deserves to be called original.

Restoring an object requires choosing which moment of its life counts as the true one. Do you return a building to the year it was finished, or to the century it spent weathering, or to the state people alive today remember? Every choice erases other real periods, and the word original quietly hides the fact that a decision was made.

The same question runs through smaller things. When you try to get back to how a relationship was, or how you used to be, ask which version you have selected and why. There were many. Choosing consciously is better than assuming there was one authentic state waiting to be uncovered.