The Pages of Time

On my recent vacation to the exotic wilds of Manitoba, I found someone's school photo in a used book I purchased.


Check that hair! Apparently that's the style all the young ladies were rocking in '88. Anyway, as you can see there's something written on the back, click for a larger image to read it for yourself, but here's a transcript:

“Edwin,

There's your second picture, hopefully your third will be bigger.
Well, have a good career in Nova Scotia, and when you get here, you have to write in my yearbook again. Other stuff has has been whited out!! Sorry.
Grade 10 '88-'89
Luv, from Deidra"

I showed this to tons of my friends, and debate raged as to the relationship between Deidra and Edwin. Some thought that perhaps Edwin was an older boy, grade 12 to be exact, and he dated Deidra, a young grade 9 girl, and then when he graduated he moved away and she went on to the next grade, left behind, and most likely heartbroken (we can only assume).

Then came the mystery of where she was from. I purchased the book this photo was tucked away in in Grande Prairie(GP). There's a last name on the photo that I covered up, but Diedra's surname is the same as few business owners here in GP. We can assume from these hints that she may have been from GP when this photo was taken, but the confusing part comes from this line here:

“Well, have a good career in Nova Scotia, and when you get here, you have to write in my yearbook again.”

"When you get here,”? Sounds like she may actually be living in Nova Scotia. Perhaps she was dating Edwin, moved to Nova Scotia ahead of him, and when he graduated from his highschool in Grande Prairie he moved out to be with her.
Obviously, she just mailed this photo out to him while he was living in GP. He then used it as a bookmark, and left that book at his parents house when he moved away. Fifteen years later, Edwin's elderly mother sold his books to the local used bookstore, where it sat untouched until I found it. The novel was L. Ron Hubbard's 'Mission Earth' if you're curious by the way.

To settle the debate, we decided we would use the modern miracle of the internet and play CSI to find Deidra. And of course, where does everyone go to stalk people? Facebook. We found her there, and from what we could tell, she does in fact live in Nova Scotia! Here's what I sent to her:

“Strange story:
I purchased a novel at a used book store, and lo and behold, I happened to find a photo of a young lass by the name of Deidra. Just because we've got ample time to fool about on the internet, we figured we'd see if we could find the girl in the photo that I've attached to this message.
Is this you in the photo? Might I inquire as to who Edwin is, because there's quite raging debate as to the nature of your relationship to him.”

and she replied back the very next day with this:

“First of all, who are you? I don't remember any Jake Hammell, and what novel are you talking about? This is quite awsome because Edwin was my bestest friend in the whole world and we lost touch with one another, if you see him tell him to do this facebook thing to me, its been 26 years.”

26 years!? The plot thickens... 26 years means the last time she saw him was 1983, which means Deidra and Edwin must have been penpals for some time. Presumably she was was 15 or 16 in this photo, so drop another five years and the last time they saw each other was when she was 10 or 11! They weren't dating at all, they were childhood friends! Probably of the neighbour variety.

Since then I haven't sent Deidra any messages, nor has she sent any back. The chances of me running into Edwin are slim to none, and I'm not really interested in personally looking up these people to create some heartwarming reunion.

And so the mystery of Deidra and Edwin was solved to the point of which I no longer cared to figure it out anymore. The moral of the story is that Facebook is F'n creepy, and you can stalk people through generations of separation.

The End