In their 69 long years of marriage, Laura and Leo Cornfeld have traveled around the world collecting artifacts and memories.
Laura and Leo Cornfeld.
Their travels have brought them to the ruins of Athens, the bustling streets of Bangkok, Paris, Guam, China, Japan, and more. All the while they've accumulated treasured objects — a model boat, a drum filled with seeds, a geisha doll — that serve as reminders of the many adventures they've been on together.
"Travel has been a very sweet spot in our lives," explains Leo Cornfeld in a new video by Upworthy.
The Cornfelds are eager to see more of the world, but have come to terms with the fact that their traveling days are probably over.
"I'd love to go back to Japan," says Leo. "And I'd love to visit Guam again." Unfortunately, at 90 years old, Laura and Leo's mobility is limited. It can be difficult for them to just go to get groceries, let alone take a weeklong excursion to southeast Asia.
So the Cornfelds spend a lot of time in their home in Rye, New York, keeping each other company. Their artifacts and memories are all that's left of nearly 70 years of adventure.
Enter Nathan Windsor and a virtual reality headset.
Windsor has worked with seniors doing music therapy for the last 12 years. Recently, he's started incorporating virtual reality into his work.
He offered the Cornfelds a unique opportunity to see the world without ever leaving their house. Thanks to modern technology and a little bit of movie magic, Laura and Leo were able to travel together again — virtually.
With nothing but some VR goggles and headphones, Windsor set up an experience that transported the couple right back to some of their favorite spots in the world.
It was like they were really there, on the beaches of Guam...
Or gliding across the ocean in Havana...
Virtual reality is one-of-a-kind technology that has the power to truly transport people to places beyond their reach.
While it's currently being incorporated into video games and movies, many people are recognizing its potential to dig a little deeper than entertainment in order to have an effect on people's lives.
"You're getting to relive memory," Windsor explains in the video. "You're getting to relive a moment in time that you had in your life that you could no longer access because you can't get there physically."
People in the medical community are already looking for ways to use VR's unique capabilities to address mental health. "My mission is to drag psychology kicking and screaming into the 21st century," Skip Rizzo, a psychologist who experiments with virtual reality to treat PTSD in combat veterans, told ABC news.
For the Cornfelds, the VR vacation was a ticket to their most cherished memories and a reminder of how lucky they were to experience them together.
"At my age, I have no regrets," says Laura. "It's been a good life and we've been very fortunate."
"We traveled the globe," Leo adds. "Two kids who hardly had any experiences in life; we've been around the world."