An unsolved mystery that happened in my life goes back to my senior year at Wayne County High School 1989-1990. The seniors had their pictures taken out at the park and within a few weeks the company in Tennessee would send the developed pictures back to the school. One day at school I heard the announcement for seniors that our pictures were in. At break I went and waited in the line to get my pictures. When it was my turn I told the person my name and this person looked for my pictures and couldn’t find them.
The pictures had been alphabetized, but my pictures were not in the “S” stack, nor any other stack. My pictures were missing. I was told to go to the school office and have someone call the company in Tennessee that had taken our pictures. I did this and was told the company would put a trace out on my pictures, but they didn’t understand why my pictures would not have been with everyone else’s. To my knowledge my pictures were the only ones missing.
A few weeks went by and my pictures never showed up. Therefore, the company made a set of new pictures from the negatives they had and sent them to my home address. After receiving this new set of pictures I passed them out to family and friends. I never really thought about the missing pictures again until almost two years later. My mom received a phone call one day asking if she had a son named Tim Stockton, because this lady had my senior pictures. However, she had not had them for the full two years she had just gotten them.
My mom asked the lady how she had ended up with them. The lady lived out in the country in Nancy, Kentucky and explained how she came about having my senior pictures. The lady went on to explain that she was standing at her sink washing her dishes and looking out the window. She could tell it was getting ready to storm. The sky was getting darker and it was beginning to rain and the wind started picking up. All of a sudden this lady saw something that seemed to fall from the sky. It was a white cardboard package. She went out to see what it was and was shocked to see that it was my high school senior pictures that had a postage date of November 13th 1989. The lady went on to tell that the cardboard package was wet from the rain and the package was open. She admitted to looking on the inside to see if the pictures were ruined from the weather. To her surprise she informed us that all but one picture was in perfect condition. The lady gave us directions to her house and we went out to pick up my pictures which I still have.
The part of the story that is the unsolved mystery is where were my pictures for those two years? Another interesting thing is about the postage date November 13th 1989 was the 6th anniversary of my dad’s death. My father’s death according to doctors was also kind of an unsolved mystery. The doctor could not explain how my dad had lived for the last 11 years of his life. My dad, Donnie had died at the age of 35 from a very rare genetic disease called, ehlers-danlos syndrome type 4 that my brother, Andy also died from at the age of 18 on December 4, 1993. Most people who have type 4 of this disease die at very early ages. Very few had lived to be in their twenties or older. An autopsy had been done on my father and with surety the doctor explained to my mother there’s no medical explanation how he had lived for the past 11 years. My mom was able to share with the doctor that my dad had been a Christian for exactly 11 years so that was how she explained it.
There is a scripture in Proverbs 9:11 that states, “Through God your days will be many and years shall be added to your life.” Is this the answer to the mystery? I can’t prove that it’s fact, but it is what I believe. Unsolved mysteries can bring intrigue and curiosity, or pain and heartache. When a crime or tragedy happens and no one seems to know an answer many times people will continually question, “Why?” When the answer does not come there tends to be extra sorrow that weighs upon the heart of those seeking answers. After my brother’s death I found out that each of us had a 50% chance of getting that disease. There have been many times that I have wondered why not me. My sorrow could have been multiplied by continuing to wonder why if only so many million people get this disease why did my father and brother both have it. We just have to face there are some things that happen in life that we will never understand why they happen. They may possibly remain an unsolved mystery. But, don’t allow the unknown to destroy your faith or your hope.
Rays of Hope 