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A couple of years ago, I rushed to

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the post office late

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to mail some copies of my book to

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about 15 people around the state.

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I wanted to get them mailed before

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5:00, and I was frustrated

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to see that my nearby post

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office was closed early.

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They were resurfacing the parking

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lot.

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I heard five miles over to the next

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nearest post office and they

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were open.

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Better still, there were no lines.

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Perfect.

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I took my box of books up to the

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clerk and he began preparing the

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labels for each individual mailing.

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He asked, out of idle curiosity,

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what kinds of books I was mailing.

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I said, History.

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Late history or popular

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history about Texas?

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He asked, Do you like

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historical photographs?

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I said, Yes, I do.

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Do I love them?

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He said, We have an old photo album

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here with pictures of over 100

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years ago in it.

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It's been here for eight years and

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our dead letter files.

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We don't know who it belongs to.

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Would you like to see it?

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I said sure.

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I'd love to take a look.

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He brought it out and I quickly

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leafed through it and saw that they

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were indeed photos

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from probably 1900 1910,

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something like that.

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No doubt. Photos of Texas.

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I said, I have an idea

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if you'll let me take this.

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I know Jack Dyer's naked traces of

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Texas on Facebook.

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He specializes in black and white

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photos of historical Texas.

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I bet he can post a few and

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maybe figure out who this album

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belongs to.

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He said, Please do.

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We'll never find the owner here.

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So I took it home. The next morning

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at breakfast. I took it out to

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peruse it over coffee.

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First photo I saw had a man in a

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suit standing in front of a Model T.

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Ford reminded me

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of the Bonnie and Clyde era.

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The photos had dates like 1910

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and 1920 of well-dressed

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people in front of large white

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homes.

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One such home had the word Denton

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beneath it.

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Some photos were of ranch country

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with barns in the background.

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I saw a toddler boy descending house

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steps in overalls.

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The photo was labeled GB.

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I told my wife that we had

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a job in my family.

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An uncle, actually.

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I said it was quite common back then

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to call boys and men by their

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initials.

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I kept turning the pages of this

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album of old black and

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white photos mounted on

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now ancient black construction

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paper and tied together

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with a skinny string.

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Halfway through, I saw

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a woman, about 30,

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who I immediately recognized.

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It was my grandmother.

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I realized to my shock that these

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were photos of my

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family, but a lesser

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known branch of my family tree, at

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least to me.

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But the greater shock was how

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this had come to be in my

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hands.

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How had the universe delivered this

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to me in this incredibly

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random way?

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I had never seen this collection of

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photos before.

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As I wracked my foggy brain

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for an answer I remembered

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many years before.

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But ever so vaguely my

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mother sending me a Christmas

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package to that very post office.

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I use that branch more frequently.

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Then she had sent me a package

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and asked me to forward the one

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within it to my great

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Aunt Mabel, who was then in

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a nursing home in Austin.

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I remembered forwarding it right

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then at the post office without

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knowing what was in it,

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how it happened to get returned to

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this post office?

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I don't know.

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I suppose there was no return

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address on it or it got damaged

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in shipment.

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By then, both Mabel and

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my mom had passed.

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No one could solve the mystery.

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Yet they marveled at the sequence of

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events that made it possible for

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this album to come back to me.

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I had to be in a rush to mail books

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that day. The nearest post office

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had to be shut down at that moment.

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I had to choose to go to the other

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post office.

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I had to run into a clerk who was

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curious about what kind

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of writing I did.

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He had to care enough to say,

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You know what?

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There's something here you might

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be interested in.

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And then I had to be curious enough

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to want to see it.

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And then he had to trust me to take

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it with the intention of finding its

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owner.

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All that had to align to get

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that album back to my family.

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But for some, it is not a miracle.

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Some say there are no

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coincidences.

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Only destiny.

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Only fate.

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Who knows?

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I'm WF Strong.

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These are stories from Texas.

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Some of them

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are true.