In every life after

There was a small town museum right off the highway that regularly gets disregarded by the people that pass by everyday. It’s a simple building that vanishes into the background of the mediocre downtown. Inside you’ll find a wide variety of unique and beautiful items.  Canvas that have been decorated with acrylic and oil to depict a picture. Wood, bone, and rock that has been carved into sculptures, tools, and weapons. Leather and textile carefully stitched together to provide covering for people and their belongings. No matter the item, when humans create, a part of their soul goes into everything that they craft revealing clues to their life. A Daughter will bear her mothers stubborn spirit. A worn hammer bears the strong spirit of its crafter just as a worn toy bears the innocent spirit of its child. As it’s said “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” 

Hung up on the north wall of the museum, an oil painted canvas portrayed a simple portrait of a common man entitled “Jeremy”. The young man was sat at a bedside table reading a letter in the dim candlelight through his spectacles. He was modestly handsome and had minor signs of aging but couldn’t be older than 30. He wore a simple white sleeping gown and stockings. The artist technique was impressive however there is nothing about this particular portrait that would catch a spectators eye for more than a quick minute. 

Jeremy had been donated to the museum by a nursing home who was selling a woman’s unclaimed belongings. The painting came with no history and was simply dated and initialed in the bottom right corner August 1779 E.H. Since the canvas dates back to the time of the Revolution, the museum was quick to accept the donation and failed to ever discover anymore about the paintings past. Jeremy had been in the museums collection for 7 years, when one day a woman visited on a simple weekend outing and found herself drawn to the depiction. Something about the man seemed unusually familiar but she wasn’t aware how. You could hardly see the painted man’s eyes as they looked over the spectacles and the features of his face were dimmed by the dark candlelight, but she knew him. She had never been an overtly admirer of art, however; when she looked at the man in the painting it calmed her soul. Over the following months, she would visit the museum more and with every trip, she would sit on the bench adjacent to Jeremy and have her quiet time. She would visit the museum on her days off and work on her laptop or practice sketching in her notebook. Eventually she started coming to the museum to sit in front of Jeremy even to just read a book. It soon became her haven and one of her favorite spots to spend down time. 

The woman always had Monday’s off work and routinely spent her late mornings sitting on the bench for hours catching up on emails and practicing in her sketchbook, unbothered by the passing employees and visitors. As she was typing on the cushion, she noticed a man had sat next to her on the bench. She was indifferent to his presence until he stood to examine to painting closer and started studying the brushstrokes and technique intently. All the months she had spent stationed in front of Jeremy, no one had ever given it a second glance. She starts to examine the man and grows more curious the longer he studies the canvas. Minutes have gone by and the man is still analyzing every detail of the painting. Finally the woman grows the courage to ask the man “it’s a beautiful painting, right?”

When the man turned and his gaze landed upon hers for the first time, she wasn’t sure how but she knew him and he knew her. Not in the way where they once had met before, but as if they had known each other their whole lives. They were strangers, but  their souls became one in an instant. 

Finally, he responded that he knew who the man in this painting was. 

The man told her how his grandfather had recently passed away and how he had come to inherit his grandfathers belongings. Among those belongings were historic paintings and documents from their families history. His grandfathers grandfather was a solider in the Revolution and the family had kept all his old journals and memorabilia from his life. After examining the painting, it was clear, the man in the painting was his great-great grandfather and he had no idea how it came to be. 

The woman was astonished to hear this information finally be revealed about her favorite piece in the museum. They sat together on the museum bench as the man retold stories he had heard from his grandfather that he had heard from his grandfather. She explained to the man how she had an uncanny connection to the portrait as if he was familiar and would spend many hours camped in front of her favorite painting. Intrigued by her testimony, the man offered to show the woman Jeremy’s war journals over lunch the following Monday. 

The man and woman exchanged telephone numbers and quickly grew a connection. The conversations started about Jeremy but as the two communicated, there was no denying the strong connection they felt towards each other. They would spend the next six days talking endlessly, learning every detail of the others life. 

Monday came and instead of the woman venturing to the museum as she would ritually do, she headed to meet the man at his late grandfathers house. Although they had spent the past six days building their connection, it would be the first time they’d been in each others presence since first meeting at the museum. As the woman approached the front door, her heart fluttered and she she felt the blood rush to her face. Though she was excited to learn the history behind the mysterious man in the portrait that had held her attention for so many months, she was most anticipating seeing the man’s eyes once more. She felt silly, having such strong feelings for a man who essentially was still a stranger to her. But when he opened the door and their eyes met once again, there was no denying the chemistry the two shared. The man and woman stared into each others eyes, staying silent for an eternity of seconds before the man found his words and invited her in. Inside he had gathered all the information he had on his great-great grandfather, Jeremy. Along with  random jewelry and clothing, there was a photo album and journal Jeremy had kept and passed down to his children. The journal was filled with entries detailing his life after the war and tucked inside were letters he had written and received during the war. The first thing the man showed her was the photo album containing portraits  of Jeremy as a young boy and man and photographs of him in his old age. When the woman saw the portraits it was undoubtedly the same man who had been painted and hung on the museum wall. Although the identity of the man has been found, the woman still was curious why she recognized the man, who had painted him and why did his portrait not pass down to his family like all the others. 

Curious to learn more about Jeremy, the two decided to read through his journal to discover more about his life after the war. Inscripted on the inside cover of his journal was a dedication that simply read “For Elizabeth.” In his journal entries, Jeremy revealed that years after the war he had taken on a new job in Virginia working as a dock hand on a port off the Mississippi. A few years later he became acquainted with a widow named Anne (who was the man’s biological great-great grandmother) through mutual friends and the two married in 1785. Jeremy adopted his new wife’s children and the two began to share a life but Jeremy never bore any biological children of his own. At the age of 58, Jeremy writes about how he has started coughing blood and the doctors give him just months to live. The journal continues to tell the last few years of Jeremy’s life until he told his last story dated December 15th 1809; public record reports show that he died December 23rd at the age of 62. While the journal provided much insight into the life of Jeremy, it raised the question of who the woman was that he inscribed the journal for, Elizabeth. 

From the letters written during the war, the two learned that Elizabeth was the daughter of Jeremy’s Lieutenant and the two had quickly caught each others attention after meeting at a Christmas party hosted at the home of the company’s commanding Captain. Dozens of letters between Elizabeth and Jeremy were exchanged and written on the parchment, it was apparent the two were deeply in love. The two sent countless letters that involved picking names for their future children and poetically express their longing to be with one another. Eventually, the man and woman opened the last letter exchanged between Elizabeth and Jeremy it read:

“My beloved Jeremy, I frequently recall the memory of our encounter, where in one second, without control, I felt my soul merge with yours. When I find myself filled with sorrow, I remember the happiness your eyes provide. How tragic is our story, two souls destined to marry, fated to share one life, cursed to spend apart. I will never forgive my father for accepting a promotion to govern the Caribbeans and forbidding our love to follow. Our love deserved a proper goodbye, instead I imagine you in salt and pepper hair, your spectacles glaring in the candlelight reading the worst letter ever addressed to you. I will forever be cursed with the knowledge that will be the last message you receive from me.  I promise you this my love, though we may spend this life apart I will carry your soul with me every waking moment. I will welcome death as it will begin my new life where our souls are destined to join together once more. I will love you in the next lifetime and every lifetime after the next. We were meant to be together and I promise you, my love, my soul will find yours and we will know eachother.” 

The man and woman were left in a heavy silence after reading the final letter. E.H.

The artist of the portrait in the museum was Jeremy’s true love Elizabeth Hall. She had painted her final moment shared with Jeremy and kept it with her all those years. The lady who passed away in the nursing home had come into possession of it at some point and by circumstance or fate it found its way to the museum. The story was heartbreaking and beautiful and poetically tragic; but nothing explained how the woman recognized the man in the portrait and why she was drawn to it. As the man and woman went to put the journals and letters back into the storage container they found a  handkerchief that was embroidered with E.H. In the corner and must have belonged to Elizabeth. Wrapped in the handkerchief was a silver oval shaped locket. The man and woman opened the locket to find a picture of a beautiful young woman who presumably was Elizabeth. The man and woman gasped as they smudged the dust off the glass to reveal the picture clearly; the woman and Elizabeth were identical in appearance. The man looked into the woman’s eyes once more and she finally understood. She was drawn to the portrait of Jeremy because Elizabeth had left a part of her soul in the brushstrokes knowing it would find Jeremy’s soul again in the next life. The woman must have the soul of Elizabeth and the man carries the soul of his great-great grandfather Jeremy. They  had found each other in this lifetime and could spend this next life together once more. When they looked into each others eyes, they knew.