I don’t believe in Heaven or Hell, but I do believe in an afterlife of some kind. Whether it takes place as reincarnation or moving to another level of existence, I do believe we go on from here. I’ve always hoped for some communication from my dear departed family members (human or otherwise), but I don’t believe they’ve ever contacted me. Other than one very real-seeming dream in which dearly missed Oscar appeared to let me know he was fine on the other side, wherever that is, I’ve never seen a sign from beyond.
This year I took some photos at and around the gravesite of my maternal grandmother and some other family members who died long before I was born. I’ve seen some ghost photos that were obvious fakes, and others that really made me wonder, so I thought I’d see what might show up in any photos that I took. Nothing unusual showed up, either upon viewing the photos right after taking them, or upon viewing them at full size on the computer later that evening.
But something rather strange did happen at the next gravesite I visited.
After spotting my uncle’s gravestone from the roadway, I happened to glance down as I walked towards it. The gravestone I saw was a smaller one with a photo: a high school graduation photo of someone I’d been friends with so very long ago. This was not someone I’d ever dated, or been extremely close to, but we had been pretty good friends all through my high school years. I knew he had passed away very young. I had already moved to Chicago and lost touch with a lot of people, including him, a couple of years before that.
Someone I hadn’t thought of in many years. Until earlier that week, when I saw an advertisement for the 70s Nightclub Reunion, which took place just this past weekend. I had a lot of friends who played in bands during the 70s, and his would have been one from that time. I knew quite a few of the members in the bands that were playing at this event, and I was just thinking about other friends from that time. Including him. And then to stumble upon his gravesite, with a forever young photo.
I am not sure if that was a sign from beyond. My friend has been gone for almost 30 years, and my uncle for about 6 years. It is very strange that I never happened upon my friend’s gravestone until that day. I visit my uncle’s gravesite every year. What are the odds that I would have always gone up the other path?