Last weekend, I was visiting a friend who recently moved to Brooklyn, New York. Nearby is Green Woode Cemetery, over a hundred acres of monuments to the rich people of Manhattan dating to the late 19th century. In addition to the fact that most of the mausoleums are bigger and grander than the house in which I live, there are also spectacular views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty. We set out on a hike, admiring the real Tiffany stained glass adorning many of the tombs, the modern Japanese mausoleum with its koi pond, etc.
Anyway, at one point, we passed before a comparatively plain tomb with no markings, just a peaked wooden door. My friend asked me to stand in the doorway for a photo, and I obliged. In front of the door, on the threshold, was a small pile of pennies that appeared to have been there for some time. I added two from my pocket, one for each of us, and stood in the doorway for the cell phone picture. I made sure to say "thank you" before going. Then we continued on our hike, which also included a few subway trips to other spots in Brooklyn and a few other photo ops.
It wasn't until we were back at his new apartment, exhausted, that we scrolled through the pictures. The man standing in the tomb doorway wasn't me. Those were my clothes, but he was a good few inches shorter, his hair wasn't nearly as gray, and he had far more prominent cheekbones and smaller ears. I contorted my face as much as I could, but I couldn't replicate what appeared in the photo in the mirror. We both freaked out, he deleted the picture, and despite the miles we walked all day, I had a very hard time getting to sleep when I got home to Connecticut.
Assuming I can find that tomb again - the cemetery is large and rambling, and we weren't really paying attention to where we were - I'll have to try harder to find the family name and do a bit of research on them. Has anyone else ever had this happen?
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