Throwing a message in a bottle into the sea has a chance of crossing oceans, and being found by someone on another continent, completely unable to read your writing. But throwing a message in a bottle into a lake has at least a good chance of being read by someone of the same language. This was certainly the case for this Canadian family.
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26 years ago Makenzie Van Eyk wrote a message and placed it in a bottle before throwing it into the Great Lakes. Ironically enough, the message was about the water quality of the lakes at the time. The plastic bottle she launched into the lake certainly helped with that.
Her homework, back in 1998, from St. John the Baptist Catholic Elementary School in Belle River, Ontario, was to write a message in a bottle and send it off. She did just that, getting top marks for throwing arm and who knows what for spelling. She then completely forgot about it.
Due to the nature of lakes, the bottle will most likely just have sat around in the middle for a while. There are no tidal flows or currents to pull it out to sea. And so, after 26 years, the message in a bottle finally made its way back to the very shore she threw it from.
Local Kid Finds Message In A Bottle
On a trip along the shore with his grandmother, a kindergartner from the same school as Makenzie Van Eyk picked up the bottle. He popped the lid, hoping for something exciting, maybe a treasure map. Instead, he was a little disappointed to find her old homework.
He unfurled the old paper to read "This letter is coming from Makenzie Morris and I go to St John the Baptist School. I am in Grade 4 in Mr. St. Pierre's class. My letter is about water in the Great Lakes. We read a book called Paddle-to-the-Sea. It was a very good book." The message in a bottle was written by a school alumni.
He took this message back to his class, where he read it to the group. In a case of small-town coincidence, Makenzie's daughter was in the class. She couldn't believe it when she heard to words of her mother 26 years later.
It's worth bearing in mind that even this plastic bottle was able to survive 26 years. Think twice before you buy plastic, and especially make sure you recycle.
