A Ghost in my Office

Now, I will admit that I am not the tidiest of people.  Things can end up in unexpected places.  But this morning things seem to have gotten out of control and the only explanation I can come up with involves supernatural ones.  To be specific, I think it was a visit from my Uncle Jack.

Last week, I bought two packages of photo paper at Staples.  They are in bright yellow boxes, hard to miss.  I opened one and used some paper, and I put the other box in the closet where I store computer paper.  The opened box sat on my desk next to the computer for a few days as I continued to use it.

Then, I had to tidy my office to make it look official and professional for a photo shoot.  (For a website.  Long story which I won't go into here.)  I put the miscellaneous stuff away, and I remember taking the photo paper out of the printer, putting it back into the package, and refilling the printer with normal copy paper.

Photo shoot happens, I go out of town for a few days, and this morning I sat down at my computer to edit a few photos and then print them out.

When it came time to print, I looked for the opened package of photo paper.  But I couldn't find it anywhere.  It was not in the closet with the unopened box.  It was not in any file drawers or anywhere I can think I might have tucked it while cleaning the desk surface.  I have looked behind and under things.  I have looked in other rooms, thinking that maybe I mistakenly carried it off in a pile of something-or-another.  It's a bright yellow box, for pete's sake.  Not hard to see.  But it is not anywhere I can find.

So I decide that I will open the other box, print my photos, and I'll eventually find Box #1.  You may be familiar with photo paper boxes like this -- the outer cardboard is sealed with two overlapping flaps that are fastened with a clear tape seal, and then other flaps inside there hold the plastic-wrapped pile of photo paper.  I take my scissors, gently cut the plastic seal, open the flap....

... and inside, facing up, is a photo of my aunt and uncle and their family, along with a few postcards that I used to display on my office bulletin board years ago, but were lately tucked into an organizer slot on my desk.

Yep, you read that right.  I opened the SEALED PACKAGE to find a family photo and some other postcards.

And you know how I mentioned that i was out of town for a few days last week?  I was visiting my aunt.  THE ONE IN THE PHOTO.  And, one night, we were talking about my uncle who died 4 years ago, and I was explaining somehing to my aunt about something he'd said to me once and why it was very meaningful to me.  Of course, during the visit his name came up various times too. Also, coincidentally, my mom and aunt and I had a long conversation about whether people who've died can visit us or communicate with us after they've died, and I was saying that I absolutely believe that they can.

Oh. I've just realized that it's St. Patrick's day today.  My uncle was Irish... my only Irish relative, in fact.

I still haven't found the first box of photo paper.  But I got my photos printed and I will carefully put Box #2 back in the closet and hope box #1 turns up.  And I will enjoy the very odd but sort of comforting thought that Uncle Jack was saying hello and telling me he knew I was thinking about him.