Another amazing occurrence … thanks to the internet.

About a year ago I received a very interesting email from a man who had read a blog entry that I’d written about my Grandfather. He was writing to tell me the astonishing news that he had actually purchased my grandparents home in New Jersey in 1968. He’d bought it from my grandmother who had outlived “papa” by many years.

He also sent me this wonderful picture. Their house is the one on the right and I remember it well. I was just 7 or 8 at the time but I recall how my parents and my four sisters and I would take the long walk to their house on most Sundays.

One of my sisters was the same age as the boy, Elwood, who lived in the house to the far left in the picture and we all became great friends. As it turned out, according to the man who contacted me, he was the only one of the neighbors still alive.

With this in mind I decided to write to him and I did … explaining who I was and reliving some memories. That was over a year ago and, since I never got an answer, I figured either he'd never received the letter or he just wasn’t interested.

I guess I couldn’t have been more wrong because just a few weeks ago I received a heartfelt phone call from his nephew. He was calling to tell me that his uncle Elwood had passed away. He said he was sure I would want to know since he’d found my open and well-read letter on top of the table next to his bed where he kept his “important papers“.

It literally brought tears to my eyes and was a great reminder that we never know how our actions may affect others.