A Precious Time Capsule

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

When you decide to create something, you just never know the impact it might have on someone. I have always loved the romance behind the 'Message In A Bottle' concept... the fact that someone would write a heartfelt message meant for someone they love or someone they haven't even met, in hopes that someday, somewhere, someone would find it intact and read its precious contents.

We recently sold a Message in a Bottle to a mother of a young child. She explained that her plan was to give it to her young daughter with the intention of having her daughter open the bottle several years later to see the meaningful words her mother had written to her so many years before... a time capsule of sorts. What a wonderful idea!

Time is indeed a precious gift that is so easily taken for granted. We never know how long someone we love will be in our lives and, when that someone is gone, we remember vividly the last words we spoke to them, either with a smile on our lips or regret in our hearts. Whether we choose to express those words the way this mother did or whether we say them audibly, it is so important that we say them. While there is time...

Mother's Day Is Just Around the Corner!

MOTHER'S DAY MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE PENDANT

I don't know about you but I love gifts that are personal and really touch the heart of the receiver. I made one of these pendants for my dear mom-in-law and she just loves to show it off. May 9th is the big day... do you have something for the most important woman in your life? We also sell the same whimsical pendants with an "I Love You" message, which is perfect for the wives, sweethearts and mother's of your children. Please don't forget us!

MEMORIES

Story and Photo by Micki Findlay - 'Herring Season' - (To purchase click here) A2SeaPhotography

What is it about the ocean that beckons us? When I close my eyes and think back to some of my favorite memories, so many involve the ocean. To me there is no aroma so intoxicating as fresh, salty sea air blended with that of a distant campfire. I am instantly transported back to a time when all was perfect with the world in a wonderful place called Gibsons, BC where I had been asked to serve as a volunteer chaplain for Cub Scout Camp.

That was a precious time for me on so many levels. I had prepared all my lessons ahead of time so I could take part in as many camp activities as possible and thereby develop relationships with the boys. I went there to teach some life lessons but they ended up teaching me just as much, if not more. For instance, I learned to cook an entire meal over a campfire in a foil pouch, (gotta love that...no dishes), how to steer a canoe (well, almost), how to build a lean-to in the forest, how to catch a fish (and an old boot!) without a rod or reel, how to take part in homemade boat races down a stream, how to sing a hundred silly camp songs, many of which required me to use every muscle in my body and, most importantly, how to discover the best parts of myself.

During the day I played hard and at night, I slept like a baby. I grew to love each and every boy there as they opened their hearts and lives to me. We learned from each other; lessons that were life-changing and eternal.

So now when I go down to the sea I remember. And smile.

A2SeaCreations.com

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Bottle Design by Cheryl

Story and Photo by Micki Findlay

I have always had such a fascination with the whole 'Message in a Bottle' concept. I mean, how romantic would it be to find an abandoned bottle laying on the shore with a love note inside it from a mysterious stranger? There is something about it that just warms the 'cockles of my heart'... the fact that someone, somewhere, at some time wrote a note to a loved one they had lost track of and, thereby possessed enough faith to dare believe that if they stuffed their message in a bottle and threw it out to sea, that there could be a possibility that their loved one may one day find it and return.

It makes me think about the power of hope. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese monk once said, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”
So true! I believe that courage is a by-product of hope. Is this the ramblings of an idealist? Guilty as charged. I do have my practical side as well. But I believe that how a person looks at life determines how they survive through the devastating times.

So is the whole Message in a Bottle idea silly and frivolous? Or is it empowering to the one sending the message? When I think of how I met my husband David, I know there is such a thing as miracles, but that is a story for another day. Figuratively speaking, I guess you could say that I threw a bottle into the sea in hopes that I would one day meet someone like him: my soul mate, at last.

A2SeaCreations.com