South Carolina Boy Discovers 45-Year-Old Love Letter Meant For His Grandfather

This is a story that seems to have been lifted straight out of a movie scene — except that this is real and is really hard to believe. Picture this. A boy on a fishing trip with his family wanders away from the group and comes across an old bottle with a scrub of paper rolled inside. The boy tells about his interesting discovery to his family members, who later find out that the little scrub of paper inside the bottle was actually a love letter written some 45 years ago to the boy’s own grandfather by his ex-girlfriend!

According to ABC News, this incredible, straight-from-a-movie story happened in South Carolina. It all happened last Saturday, when the family of Viki Garrick went out for a fishing trip on Lake Murray. Joining them was her nine-year-old grandson Nolan Rogers.

In the midst of the trip, the adventurous boy that he is, Nolan decided to take a little break and started exploring the nondescript island on which they were fishing. A few minutes later, he comes across a washed up bottle by the shore. He notices that the bottle has a note inside it. At first, Nolan thought it was some kind of a pirate message.

“Some note from the pirates or something I thought it was some weird, psycho treasure stuff,” Nolan said.

Nolan decided to go back to his family and later handed over the letter to Viki who, along with her husband, decided to take a look at what the note inside the bottle said. However, the writing on the letter had faded and they were only able to make out a few words which said “I wish I could see you… I love you so much… I love you, Diane.”

The love letter was addressed to someone whose name started with an “M”.

What was however clearly seen in the love letter was the signature of the person who had written it. It clearly mentioned the person’s name — Diane. Viki immediately recognized the signature to be that of her good friend Diane Bryant. She contacted Bryant who immediately recognized the letter!

“I know exactly where that came from,” Bryant said.

As it turned out, the love letter was written by Diane to Viki’s husband, Mike Rogers. Diane and Mike dated as teenagers and back in the 70s, they were on and off as couples. However, nothing worked out and both went their separate ways. Diane revealed that she had written the love letter as a 13-year-old during an overnight gathering when they had visited Lake Murray. Diane wrote the letter when she was missing her boyfriend, the now 58-year-old grandfather of Nolan! Apparently, Mike had landed himself in some sort of trouble and was unable to join Diane for the trip — which made her write the love letter.

“When you’re 13 years old, you’re devastated about that,” says Diane.

She revealed that the decision to pen the love letter was not unusual during those days when couples were used to scribbling notes to each other. On that night, Diane wrote her message on a paper towel, folded it into a Dr. Pepper bottle and threw it into the lake, hoping Mike would read it someday. That one day came around 45 years later!

“With my whole heart, I just knew one day he would find it,” she said. “I’ve thought about it through the years, thinking, ‘I wonder if anyone ever found that bottle?'”

Diane and Rogers eventually got married, had families of their own and are now leading pretty happy lives, reports HNGN. Rogers however is still amazed that the love letter addressed to him was found by his own grandson.

“I’m feeling pretty old right about now, Diane, walking with my grandchildren, and one of them’s older than we were when you wrote the letter,” he says.

Just to add another interesting twist to the tale, Diane eventually got married to her current husband Ron who, by the way, was also on the trip to the Island on Lake Murray 45 years ago!

Did this story remind your about the 47-year-old time capsule that was discovered last year in New Mexico?

[Image Via YouTube]