Message in a Bottle Reunites Writer with Her Past After 26 Years

A kindergarten student discovers a message in Lake St. Clair, leading to an unexpected connection with the writer's daughter.

Makenzie Van Eyk, formerly Makenzie Morris, wrote the message in 1998 as a fourth-grade school project at St. John the Baptist Catholic Elementary School.
The message was discovered by River Vandenberg, a current kindergarten student at the same school, while he was visiting the beach with his grandmother.
The letter, which focused on water in the Great Lakes, was read to a class that included Van Eyk's daughter, Scarlet, who was surprised to learn her mother wrote it.
Retired teacher Roland St. Pierre, who initiated the project, expressed his surprise and emotion at the letter's survival and rediscovery.
The discovery highlights the environmental persistence of plastics, as the bottle remained intact for over two decades in Lake St. Clair.