AFTON, Okla. - A couple found something this week they thought only existed in movies, a message in a bottle, now they have a message for the woman who wrote it.
The year was 1993.
Bill Clinton was the president, the internet was the new unknown and a young girl named Sarah Hendrickson wrote a letter, rolled it up and placed it in a bottle.
That bottle floating in Grand Lake waters until this week.
"In the off season we like to go down the shorelines and look for unique driftwood pieces," said Afton resident Aimee Gelinas.
The Lake Country Lawn and Landscape owners were doing what they often do for their business, when she spotted the bottle.
"I saw the message inside of it and I grabbed it, and I didn't want to get too excited about it because you know what's the odds of that?"
She showed it to her husband.
"Sure enough we sat down on a log and pulled out the note, read what we could and started googling right away," said her husband Josh Gelinas.
It had a name and date, said she was 14 years old, even listed her hometown address and included a church name.
But the right side of the mysterious paper was blank.
"It could've really came from a lot of different places," Josh said.
They went digging with what they had.
"I've googled, I've done truth finder, Facebook, contacted the church."
The church said the family moved and they aren't sure when.
2 Works for You even tried contacting people who now live at the address and calling every Hendrickson in Woodbridge, but still striking out.
For now Aimee keeps it carefully rolled up in a Ziploc bag, but they're not putting their goal on a shelf just yet.
"I hope she reaches out to me. I think I would even travel to get it to her, wherever she might be, just to see her face," she said.
Determined to cross Sarah's path as the bottle once did.
"I'm so excited to hand it back to her and I want to know her whole story. Like, how did it get here?"
In the end to make a young girl's journey come full circle.
Let 2 Works for You know if you can help them find Sarah Hendrickson or you know someone else who can.
Just send an email to News@kjrh.com.
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