What stories have you learned from the digital messages left behind?

Tell us about any surprising or moving screenshots, selfies, digital notes or direct messages you have found after the death of a loved one.

My stepfather passed away last spring and I inherited his iPad. Since I did not reset the device, it contains Jeff's old Facebook account, texts and emails. It might feel awkward, like I'm walking around the house in his XXL cat t-shirt and khakis. But I like having a place to go where I'm not distracted by notifications from my phone.

One ​​evening while reading the news on the iPad , I noticed an app I hadn't considered before: Photos. It had been a few months since Jeff had died, and although I had already gone through his Gmail and Facebook messages (nothing to write home about), I had forgotten about this one. I paused for about three seconds - wondering if I should ask my mother for permission first - then watched.

When a family member dies, surviving relatives used to dig boxes in the attic, looking at scrapbooks and memorabilia containing old stories; When our loved ones die today, they most likely leave behind countless digital remains: text messages, voicemails, emails, screenshots, to-do lists, social media accounts, including hidden ones.

We want to hear what others have learned about their family or friends based on the digital remains left behind after someone dies. Share with us a photo, email, Facebook post, draft note, or other digital information you discovered, and tell us what you learned from it. (See the form below.)

Like boxes in the attic, these digital messages contain stories we may not know about our loved ones. After my grandfather died, my mother went through the letters he had sent from the army during World War II, learning about his efforts to keep kosher during the war. Those letters had always been there, but now they had extra weight.

ImageAfter death of my stepfather, our family pulled out old photographs of him to look at. the digital leftovers now left behind are often spontaneous and unedited.

My stepfather was very ill at the end and before that spent much of his free time in bed reading so a lot of his photos looked like they were taken elongate. Browsing through her Photos app, I saw plenty of pictures of feet. Many of the images looked more like accidental screenshots than intentional photographs.

Feet, feet, feet then pops – a series of close-ups of the face of Jeff, his head bent against his hospital bed. Did Jeff take selfies in the hospital? In one, I swear I detected a smile.

I kept coming back. Most of the old photos included either my mother or her cats, Basil and Oregano – Reggie for short. Other than naming them, my mother never wanted to do much with these cats. But Jeff was watching her, and every time Reggie crawled on her lap while she was watching a show or reading a magazine, and my mom inadvertently stroked him, Jeff seized the moment.

There have also been several series over the years of my mother standing in the kitchen, trying on outfits. I imagine these photos were forced, what one takes to keep a partner happy. But there have been a few caught at their favorite lake in Maine. My mom was sitting in an Adirondack chair, painting a wildflower scene, and Jeff captured it from every angle.

In another series, I spotted my boys from years ago. They may have looked like 1 and 3, wearing footed pajamas. I could see Jeff's belly in the photos, the boys playing on the floor in front of him. They looked up at Jeff, with the kind of twinkle in their eyes that kids reserve for Grandpa...