Message From Above

There's something just so romantic and timeless about a message in a bottle. The idea of wistfully tossing a personalized note into the sea, and a stranger finding it in some far-flung locale seems like the stuff of snuggly fiction, but this story is 100 percent true -- and could not be more poignant.

French couple Michel and Daniele Onesime were walking along the coast of their quaint French village when they noticed a bottle bobbing along the shore. They scooped it up and carefully read the note inside, which said, according to the Boston Globe, "Ann Hernandez is a lighthouse keeper on Thacher Island - Cape Ann Light Station and had a birthday there October 10, 2003. Drop her a card at home."

Excited about their find, they quickly penned a postcard to the address given, but were disappointed when it was returned undeliverable. Determined to find Hernandez, they sent a note to the president of the Thatcher Island Association, Paul St. Germain, who relayed sad news: Hernandez died unexpectedly last year of complications from surgery.

But, the story doesn't end there. The Onesime's note brought some much-needed joy to Hernandez's family and friends, and now the French couple have forged an unexpected bond with the folks across the Atlantic.

Her boyfriend "sent us pictures of him and Ann, and told us how she had thrown a bottle into the sea every year since 1991. It's a beautiful story. We would love one day to visit this island and get to know all our new friends,'' Onesime wrote in an email to the Globe.

And everyone wonders whether some kind of divine intervention brought these folks together.

"It's like someone was pulling the strings up there on everyone down here on earth, saying Ann is still there somewhere,'' St. Germain told the Globe.

It sure seems that way.

Photo courtesy of plusW via Wikimedia Commons.