Message in a Bottle

A Pic of the 'message in the bottle' before I mailed it off
to my niece 

It is almost like being on set of a movie.............I am driving along the beach here at the ranch and something catches my eye- After almost 2 years of two to three times a day checking the beach I can scan drift wood, washed up flip flops, bottles, rubber buoys, house hold trash, and other misc. things that wash up on a daily basis and know that there is nothing worth stopping and taking a CLOSE look at.  I had done my usual scan and something caught my eye.  There are probably 100 glass bottles any given day on the beach- I would say mostly wine bottles- The bottle that caught my eye was a greenish color and looked to have something inside- It was kind of sitting off by itself half buried in the sand- As I get closer to where it is I can tell that someone has placed a personal message in a bottle, threw it in the ocean, and dreamed of where it would wash up and who would find it.
I walked in the door last week after finding the 'message in a bottle' to my phone ringing- It was my sis. 'Hey guess what!' was coming out of my mouth before she could get a word in edge wise- The bottle is corked  and part of the cork was broken off- This made it impossible to open the bottle when I was on the phone with her (My precious boys had no interest in even checking the bottle out- they are at the age and of the personality that they think messages in a bottle are not all that interesting)- So I held it up and turned it all around to give it a through inspection to report to my sis- Through the partially sanded/greenish colored glass I could make out Chinese writing mixed with American writing- I could also see a signature of what looked like a child and the year 2003. After giving the details of what I could see I set the bottle down in my lower living room area and we moved on with our conversation.
Earlier this month I got an excited call from my niece (her nick name is 'sissy')- "AUNTIE!!! I just wanted to invite you and Oklie (my dog) to my birthday party!"- My heart jumped at the possibility of being able to go to her 7th Birthday- After looking at all that is going on in our schedule right now I realized that I would not be able to make it....Along with telling my sister about the bottle I was also telling her that I was definitely not going to be flying in for sissy's birthday party- I got off the phone and headed back down to the lower living room to get the bottle for further inspection.  As I picked it up It struck me- I needed to get this unopened bottle in the Mail ASAP so that my niece could have a once in a lifetime birthday gift......A true message in a bottle found in the warm Hawaiian Waters washed up on an isolated beach and sent with love from her auntie a little over 3000 miles away from a birthday party my heart is dying to be at!

My sis and niece 

P.S. Sissy got the package yesterday (that contains the bottle) and wants to wait until her actual birthday to open it!!

UPDATE 3/24/11


SISSY OPENED THE BOTTLE TODAY- AND MY SISTER JODI (SISSY'S MOM) SENT THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL:


A couple weeks ago my sister, Stephanie, found a bottle that had washed up on their beach in Hawaii. She mailed it to Sissy for her 7th birthday. It was a letter written by a 12 year old girl named Akane Nihei from Fukusima, Japan in 2003. It says, "Dear friennd who got this bottle...This bottle mail is planed by "The 50th annual iwaki port festival". We are the staff of this festival. We flowed this bottle on the pacific ocean of Hawaii offing in Sep.2003. You are the only one person who got this bottle around the world. So please contact us. We will waiting for your contact." 


My sister (Jodi) sent an e-mail to Akane today from Sissy- I will update this blog when my sister let's me know if Akane (who would be 20) responds- I just Googled Fukushima, Japan and this is what came up.  May God Bless and keep this girl if she is still living in Fukushima- I can not even imagine what she has experienced- Again, will update as my sister updates.

A nuclear power plant in the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan is under a state of emergency following the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that shook the nation today.

Located in northern Japan, the Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 2 million and lies in an area heavily impacted by the earthquake. A dam broke nearby, washing away homes, Reuters reported.

Residents near the facility have been asked to evacuate as a precaution. The nuclear power plant's cooling system was malfunctioning after the quake, causing concerns, per the Guardian.