A Massachusetts man recently received a response to his message in a bottle almost a decade later and from the other side of the Atlantic.
When Max Vredenburgh was 10 years old, he penned a letter, put it inside an empty wine bottle and threw it off the coast of Rockport, Mass., on Aug. 21, 2010.
Little did he know he would receive a response from a G. Dubois almost a decade later after the bottle had travelled across the pond to France.
“Logistically, I think I have a higher chance of winning the lottery than this happening,” he told CBS affiliate WBZ4.
Vredenburgh’s original letter reads: “Please write back … I’ll tell you a little bit about myself. I’m 10 years old. I like apples, I like the beach. My favourite colour is blue. I like animals. I like cars and I like outer space.”
He shared the two letters side by side on Twitter in a post that’s since garnered almost 140,000 retweets, more than 520,000 likes and high praise from readers, with one Twitter user saying: “This is the coolest s–t I’ve ever seen on Twitter.”
Another user pointed out the variables that had to connect to make this possible: the message had travelled thousands of miles before the person who found it realized a note was inside and was able to read English.
“I am mind blown,” Vredenburgh tweeted along with three photos of the original and response letters.
Last month, Vredenburgh’s parents received a mysterious letter addressed to their son. They realized it was the response he had wished for all those years ago.
His dad sent him a photo of his original letter in a group text message, CNN reports. At first, Vredenburgh thought nothing of it.
“My parents always saved things from our childhood so I didn’t think much about it,” he told CNN. “Then I read the letter from the recipient, and my heart just dropped.”
“Something like this just will not happen for the rest of my life,” he added.
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The Rockport native said he’s curious to know more about the man who found his letter since he shared so much about himself as a child in his original correspondence.
He continued: “You had grown a lot during that time: 10 to 19 years old. I put you some maps below to locate you.”
The 19-year-old said getting a response to his letter was a dream realized, and it made him do some reflecting.
“This kind of made me reflect on who I used to be,” he said.
According to WBZ4, Dubois and Vredenburgh have since connected on Instagram.
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