The bottle containing the note drifted in the sea for 25 years before landing in the backyard of a young boy. And this was the start of a big story. According to CBC Canada, a note written by the hand of a 14-year-old girl from Quebec, 25 years old, traveled 100 kilometers on its way to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Naima Mitchell, 8, discovered a bottle under a pine tree in his backyard while playing with friends and his brother, Maila.
The boy initially assumed it was garbage and picked up the bottle to throw it away, but then he noticed a folded piece of paper inside. According to Naima’s mother, Britta Mitchell, the bottle could have been brought here by a hurricane that raged a few years ago. Naima attempted but failed to open the lid. His mother was equally incapable. He needed a can opener and pliers.
Naima finally took out a letter dated August 12, 1995 after twenty minutes of agony. “Dear friend, my friends and I made the decision to write to someone… “I launched the bottle into the waters of the Magdalena Islands,” the author wrote in English and French. There was a signature at the end of the letter – Nelly Needed.
The Mitchells were intrigued by the discovery and decided to look up the name on the Internet, where they discovered it on the website of the hospital where the family doctor, Nelly Nadeau, worked. Her biography stated that she grew up on the coast of Eastern Canada. Everything indicated that this was the same Nellie, only she now lived in Alaska.
Naima desperately wanted to respond, despite the fact that the sender was no longer a teenager, but a 39-year-old woman. His letter was never delivered because Nelly changed jobs and addresses several times. Nonetheless, the Mitchells found it, and the envelope ended up in the right hands. According to Nelly, the letter brought back childhood memories of how she and a friend threw two bottles into the sea during a family vacation.
She was convinced for several days after learning that her message, after 25 years of wandering, had been discovered in the backyard of an 8-year-old boy. The woman replied to Naima, but her letter was returned as undeliverable. Nelly did not give up and began looking for the Mitchells on social media. There were many people willing to take part in an unusual search, and not just on the Internet. People in Nova Scotia called friends and acquaintances to see if they knew anyone with that surname. And she was quickly found.
The letter was returned to Nellie for no apparent reason – the address on the envelope was correct, and the Mitchells had not moved. Nelly intends to pay a visit to Naima. The boy is also anticipating her arrival. He told Newsweek that he plans to go canoeing down the river with a new pen pal because they both enjoy this activity. Meanwhile, Nelly and Naima continue to write letters to each other, refusing to use e—mail because it is far more interesting.