When a balloon floated into the parking lot of the Local Heroes restaurant in Auburn, CA, Lisa Sturgiss was taken aback by what was written on it.
“I saw some writing on it and started reading it a little bit and I’m — oh, my gosh!” said Sturgiss. “It was so deep and emotional.”
Like Archie Brookman’s balloon message, the balloon was sent from 540 miles away in Whittier, CA. The messenger? Sixteen-year-old Ashlynn Marracino.
“Have you ever let a balloon go and watched it?” Ashlynn tells CBS’s Steve Hartman. “It really does look like it’s going to heaven. And I want him to know that I still love him.”
Ashlynn is referring to her dad Scott Marracino. Scott died of an aneurysm in 2009, but what happened before then led to the message.
Scott spent a few years in prison for robbery. He sent Ashlynn hundreds of letters and cards. Heartbroken by her father’s actions, Ashlynn never responded. After he was released from prison he called his daughter, but Ashlynn didn't pick up. Then he died suddenly.
“I didn’t answer the phone, and what if he wanted to say, ‘I love you'?" Ashlynn said tearfully. “I would have liked to say that back but I didn’t get to.”
So she wrote a letter on the back of a balloon and sent it up to heaven. “I wanted to share my accomplishments, my life,” Ashlynn said. “I wanted to tell him what he missed out on.”
When Ashlynn heard that Lisa found the balloon and that it moved her, it was the bit of hope she needed.
“Just gave me faith and hope again and reassurance and it’s pretty amazing,” Ashlynn said.
See Ashlynn’s bittersweet story below and please SHARE if you think her father would forgive her.
