There’s Nothing Like a Highly Unusual Story

A local funeral home anywhere USA
(Credit: hubhomedesign.com)

Today I was thinking about how loss not only impacts our lives but it can also, in some situations, completely change the course of it too. I have met many end-of-life experts who have devoted their lives to some amazing profession because they lost someone they loved deeply. And then there are the extreme cases.

With this said, I will tell you a most unusual story, told to me by a friend whom I will not name. In fact all the names have been changed, but the story is indeed true. This is a highly unusual story that underscores how greatly a loss can impact one’s life.

When Beth began to search for her husband’s necessary legal documents she discovered, to her complete disbelief, that her husband never existed.

This story begins in Arizona, where a woman Beth was married to Michael Doe, the local funeral director in a very small town. They had three children, two boys and a girl, and lived a quiet stable sort of life. Before the oldest son Jack reached middle school, his father suddenly and unexpectedly disappeared. Yes, completely gone without a trace whatsoever, leaving no note or possibilities as to whether he was dead or alive. When Beth began to search for her husband’s necessary legal documents, she discovered, to her complete disbelief, that her husband never existed. No such person, no social security number, no birth certificate, absolutely nothing.

Random calls home
(Credit: dawgshed.com)

With three young children to care for and no means of making a decent living, Beth immediately enrolled herself in a college program in California. She drove her children to her parents’ house in Colorado, leaving them to be raised by their grandparents for the next four years.

Lylia said he would randomly call home to his mother out of the blue every few years or so.

While in college, Beth had the fortune to meet, fall in love and marry a kind man named Skip, a respected local superintendent. They bought a house in the area and proceeded to finish raising the three children. Beth and Skip also had a child of their own, a daughter Lylia, who was much younger than the other children.

Lylia told me this story many years later after she had graduated from college. You see her oldest brother Jack also sort of disappeared. After he graduated from college, the family had no idea where Jack lived or what he did for a living. Lylia said he would randomly call home to his mother out of the blue every few years or so. This was how it had been for as long as she could remember.

She was also convinced Jack had chosen work in some sort of covert operation as a lifelong need to both understand, and perhaps figure out, just what had happened to his father.

Lylia confided in me she was convinced Jack worked for a government agency or organization that prohibited the knowledge of his whereabouts to anyone, including his own family. She was also convinced Jack had chosen work in some sort of covert operation as a lifelong need to both understand, and perhaps figure out, just what had happened to his father.

She suspects it’s some covert operation
(Credit: Youtube.com)

So you see, it’s quite the story and naturally lots of thoughts come to mind about Jack’s father’s disappearance. A loss so profound that Jack gave up any sort of normal family interactions – no family Thanksgivings or Christmases. It set him on a lifelong journey to understand and wrangle with the mystery.

It set him on a lifelong journey to understand and wrangle with the mystery.

Yes, a loss can impact us under all sorts of circumstances, even the most unusual of circumstances.