Message in a Bottle

Here is a lovely bedtime story for you.

In the summer of 1977, Olivier Vandevalle tore a page from a book and wrote down a message.

This is what the note said: "I am boy of 14 years and my house is in Belgium. I do not know if you are a pupil, a woman or a man. I am on a sailing boat of 18 metres. Her name is Tamaris. While I am writing this letter we have just passed Portland Bill on the south coast of England. We left this morning."

Then, Olivier printed down his full name and address in Belgium. He rolled up the note and slid it into the mouth of an empty wine bottle. With his father's help, he sealed the corked bottle with candle wax, and tossed it over the side of his family's yacht into the endless sea.

After a few years, Olivier forgot about the day he released a message in a bottle into the ocean. He went about his life in Ostend, Belgium and had two children of his own.

Thirty-three years later, Lorraine Yates found a bottle washed up on an English beach. She saw an aged note stuck inside.

When Lorraine opened the bottle, she read a thirty-three year old letter from a young boy to a stranger. Her search for Olivier Vandevalle began with the outdated address. After this attempt was unsuccessful, she found the now-forty-seven year old on Facebook.

At first Olivier had forgotten about the bottle from so many years ago. But as Lorraine shared the details of the letter, she gave him the gift of a beautiful memory.

Olivier recalled the fishing and boating holiday with this family. He remembered the wine bottle – below – and writing a message for the bottle. It was as if he was sitting beside his father once again, melting a candle and sealing the bottle with wax.

Learn how to make a weathered-looking message in a bottle.

What will you write?

{info gathered via Gadling and the UK Daily Mail}

Comments

[Juju at Tales of Whimsy.com]

Ah! How cool!

[Sweet Southern Prep]

That is an amazing story! Wow! Never knew this really happened.

[Diana]

OMG..I never knew! What a great story, thank you so much for sharing it!
Kisses:)

[Sarah Esther]

this is too neat! how cool, and how special for him to have that memory brought back to the time with he and his father.

[the zhush]

Wow! Blown away by this cool story, and your awesome new blog!!!