One final conversation: Lindley family connects with late daughter after discovering hidden note

The opportunity to reconnect with a loved one who passed away is something that many could only dream of and something that the Lindley family in Graham recently experienced. 

It was a simple bathroom renovation job that led to the family discovering a handwritten note tucked behind a mirror from their daughter, Amber Lindley, who passed away 12 years ago at 18 years old. 

Dana and Connie Lindley had been putting off a bathroom renovation before finally getting the pieces they needed to begin the project. After starting the project Saturday, Sept. 14, Dana worked to remove a large plate glass mirror and, after carrying it out of the room, noticed something in its former location.

“I walked over to (the note and) I immediately saw her name on there and I lost my breath, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see and I just had to go outside for a minute. I went outside, got some fresh air (and) walked around a little bit,” he said. “My wife and my granddaughter had gone to Walmart, so I went back in and took a picture of it, and I sent it to my wife. They, of course, rushed home really quickly.”

The note was “To Mom and Dad” and said:

“Dear Mom and Dad, 

Thank you for being the best two people I know. You’ve stood beside me since I was born and have loved me for years. You two are incredibly awesome and no one could ever replace you. I love you so much. 

Your loving daughter, 
Amber Lindley.”

After picking up the note and reading it, Dana had to go back outside to regain his composure, and something he noticed was four or five monarch butterflies fluttering around a Lantana bush. Dana said while growing up butterflies were always something special for Amber.

“She loved nature and she loved drawing nature. One of her most favorite things was butterflies. She drew them on paper. She drew them everywhere. She actually wrote on people’s furniture in ink and drew butterflies,” he said.

Dana said after the family spoke about the note they determined she must have been around 12 years old when it was written from the penmanship and due to other factors.

The family also discussed why the note would have been hidden by Amber.

“One daughter said, ‘Because that’s the kind of thing that she would do, stick a note somewhere for you to find much later.’ The other daughter said, ‘That’s Amber’s version of pencil marks everywhere and strings tied on everything, she would leave little string reminders,’ and ‘Because the thought entered her head, and why not,’” Dana said.

He said time stopped for him after finding the note and it was not until later in the evening that he was able to write something online about the discovery.

“I said (online that) today was many things for me, a new challenge changing our bathroom vanity, a wonderful day with my wife and granddaughter, and a chance to visit with Amber, if only through a note she had left so many years ago. These blessings shouldn’t catch me by surprise, but today it did. I know that there are so many more to come, yet I still can’t help but get a frog in my throat sometimes,” he said. “…I thought about that note and how long it had been there, how long I had procrastinated changing the vanity and could have found it so much sooner.”

This was not the first time they have seen Amber making an impact in their lives. 

“One of the stories that we told at her funeral, at the viewing, was when the girls were all small and still living at home we went to the deer lease (and) went fishing. While we were fishing in the summertime, yellow grasshoppers were everywhere,” Dana said. “They had a yellow grasshopper that stayed on her finger pretty much the entire time. It didn’t jump. They pet it (and) named it Diane.”

When they left the funeral home after telling this story they were warned by the funeral director about a possible problem at the gravesite.

“We walked over to the gravesite. As soon as we walked near the tent and the chairs and everything, tens of thousands of yellow grasshoppers were everywhere, and all we could do was just smile and laugh,” Dana said. “She’s been very influential in many, many areas of our life, even after she passed.”