A message in a bottle is a symbol of intrigue and reaching out to other people, and a reminder of how vast and uncontrollable the ocean is. For one Maryland-based young man, it also became a symbol of friendships, new and old.
Sasha Yonyack liked to go fishing with Mr. Wayne.
This team would head out to fish in their Maryland town. Sasha and Wayne Smith were fishing one day when Sasha was 11 and they found a glass bottle with a message inside it.
The bottle contained a message written by two women, as well as two dollars. The joy and intrigue of receiving a message in a bottle made Sasha want to send one out himself. So that’s exactly what the fishing team did.
Sasha and Wayne decided to write their own letter and put it in a bottle.
They kept it pretty straightforward. Sasha wrote about who he was as a person, including details like what he likes to do for fun. He did add one detail though: should anyone find the bottle, they should call him back. Keeping with tradition, Wayne put two dollars in the bottle. On their next fishing trip, they went a mile offshore and then threw the bottle into the sea.
It was years before anyone heard anything about the bottle again.
Three years later, in early January 2022, the bottle turned up again. This time, it was a couple in the town of Donegal in Ireland that found the message.
The couple was named Rita Simmonds and Ciaran Marron, and they wanted to follow through on the message’s wish. Because Sasha had written that he lived in Ocean City, Maryland, they contacted a local newspaper there, in order to get the word out.
When the bottle got to Donegal, the Irish couple was as excited as Sasha had been when he found it.
Rita Simmonds and Ciaran Marron were walking along the beach when they saw the bottle in the sand. They told NBC News what it looked like:
“You could see a wee bow was tied up to something in the bottle, and so we sort of knew right away there was a message in the bottle. It’s a one in a lifetime thing, it’s something you sort of dream about as a kid.”
The newspaper helped all parties get in touch, and they got to have a video call.
Using Facebook, the couple in Ireland got connected to the American teenager and his dad. They had a conversation via video call where they talked about the past history of the bottle, and even got to learn about one another’s families.
Although Wayne Smith passed away last year, he wasn’t forgotten during this special moment.
Sasha’s dad noted that Wayne and Sasha had a close relationship. He told CBS Baltimore:
“That bottle made it such a long way, all the way to Ireland…[It] kind of reflects the big friendship Mr. Wayne and Sasha had.”
This message in a bottle experience has honored past friendships, and possibly created new ones: Sasha and his father say that they are planning on traveling to Ireland to meet Rita and Ciaran.
To learn more about this incredible story, watch the video below!
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