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A mom in Ontario was recently surprised to receive a phone call from her children’s elementary school after a student found a message in a bottle that she had written 26 years ago as part of a school project.

The bottle was found washed up on the shore of Lake Saint Clair, close to where Makenzie Van Eyk (formerly Morris) and her classmates at St. John the Baptist Catholic Elementary School in Ontario had dropped off their bottles.

Now, Van Eyk is a mom who sends her own children there. Her daughter Scarlet just happens to be in fourth grade, the same grade that Makenzie was when she wrote the message in the bottle back in 1998.

At the time, Makenzie was in Roland St. Pierre’s fourth-grade class.

St Pierre told GMA that he remembered the project well, saying,

We had done a study on the Great Lakes and the water unit, and I read to them the book ‘Paddle to the Sea.’ … From that, I gave them a writing assignment where they had to identify themselves and write up little things about what they learned. Then, we walked it over to the lake, and they all threw their bottles in the water. And a few weeks later, we received one response from Tecumseh, which is about 10 miles from here, but then, that was it, until two weeks ago.

The bottle didn’t travel very far at all during its 26-year journey, but it was found by those who would appreciate it most and in a very unexpected way.

Van Eyk told GMA,

When I initially heard that the letter had been found, I was very shocked, something you don’t expect to be found 26 years later. For it to be found, especially by a child who goes to this school, was really exciting and memorable.

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