Countless people, kids and adults alike, have done it for fun: sticking a note inside a glass bottle and sending it off into the sea. There's not telling where it will go, or whose hands will pick it up.
Maybe the bottle will be found the very next day, perhaps a mile or two down the beach. Or, like in this family's case, over five decades later, thousands of miles away.
Teacher Clint Buffington was on vacation in Turks and Caicos when he noticed an ancient-looking Coke bottle in the sand.
Inside, there was a piece of paper, weathered by water and time.
Luckily, he was able to decipher some of the writing, most of it washed away. He read, "Return to 419 Ocean Boulevard and receive a reward from Tina, owner of the Beachcomber."
As it turns out, Tina was no longer alive, and neither was the writer of the note. But his daughter Paula Pierce is, and she immediately recognized his writing.
Pierce says her father threw the bottle into the ocean from New Hampshire, where the Beachcomber Hotel was located. The hotel has since changed hands, but Buffington and Pierce were connected and the teacher was able to travel thousands of miles to return the letter.
In exchange, Pierce kept her father's promise to reward the finder with $150.
Please SHARE if you've ever sent a message in a bottle or found one on the beach!
Photo credit: Clint Buffington/Message In A Bottle Hunter
