When treasured items go missing, it’s devastating.
We often connect those objects to special people or memories in our lives. But sometimes these important personal artifacts can turn up in strange ways.
And when they do reappear, it’s the how and where that these are found that becomes as interesting a part of the story as the objects themselves.
When a grieving daughter found a picture of her mother, the 20-year search became a huge part of the payoff as well.
Sometimes objects and photographs can connect us to our loved ones in a different way than memory.
Carol Ingram’s mother died at age 48, when Carol was just 18, so she had to go through much of life without her guidance and the memories they could have made.
She did not even have many photographs of her mother. When her mother was 18, her house caught fire and burned, destroying many of her girlhood pictures and information about the life she led.
Despite that, there was one photograph that Carol considered very special: her mother in the 1940s, right before her wedding. It was even colorized.
The photo survived the fire and it stayed at Carol’s aunt’s house, reminding everyone of her.
But when Carol’s aunt died, the picture disappeared as well.
Her aunt’s home and belongings were largely sold in an estate sale, but all the sentimental items were left aside for the family. All, that is, except for Carol’s mother’s picture.
Carol was so confused about what happened to this photo that her search began very close to home.
Believing that the photo could not have possibly been misplaced, she went to cousins’ houses and searched through their belongings.
She hoped that the photo would just turn up as simply as that, but it never appeared.
She had no leads of where to find this beloved picture.
That set Carol off on a search for the photo. She tells KJRH-TV Tulsa:
“I’ve been looking off and on for the past 20 years,” Carol said. “Much more in recent years… I’ve been going to a different store about every week.”
She was even saying prayers before walking into different stores, just hoping that each different store would hold all she had been looking for.
This was the culmination of 20 years of searching for the photograph.
It was getting tiring. Carol had essentially given up the search for this prized possession. She had gone into so many antique stores and nothing was giving her any hope.
That is, until she walked into a store in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She walked into the store, and saw the exact picture. As she describes it:
“It was probably the most shocking experience of my life,” Carol said. “I came out of the booth, and in a loud voice I said, ‘this is my mother!”
It was even still in it’s original vintage frame.
Everything was exactly how Carol had remembered it. And it was priced at $19.95.
Now, you might be thinking that if you find a long-lost photograph of your deceased mother, the store should probably give it to you for free.
But Carol was happy to pay the price and says she would have paid anything to have that picture back.
It looked just as it had in her aunt’s house, except now it sits in her house. She says it feels just like having a piece of her mother back with her.
Hear the story in the woman’s own words in the video below!
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