#9: Send a message in a bottle.

I'm Nate Stauffer, and I approve this message.

#9: Send a message in a bottle.

Another thing I have always wanted to try is this, but I never could find the right words and I didn't want to litter. Well, I decided there's no better time than the present. The opportunity presented itself while I was at the beach with my dad's family, and I seized it.

I found an empty Perrier bottle in the recycling at the condo and it said "biodegradable", so that relieved my worries. I didn't have any real paper so I had to improvise, using one of the courtesy "ResortQuest" post-it pads that was in the main realtor's office (luckily, Gram had grabbed a few so we had them handy! We used them to keep score in board games too.) I sat quietly in the room that Mom and I shared and just wrote what came to mind...
---
Dear Reader,
I don't know who is going to read this, if anyone at all. My name is Nate. I'm 16 and I live in PA. I've had a rough year and it wasn't until just recently that I learned how to live life the right way. One thing I've always wanted to do is send a message in a bottle, so here it is. Now I want you to go send a message for someone else to read. And as you go through your life, remember this letter and, more importantly, remember to live each day to the fullest while you can and don't be afraid to show your real emotions. I don't know if we'll ever meet, and if we do, I can't be sure we'll recognize each other, but I hope the person I meet is a better person because of this letter you're reading.
-Nate
---
Mucho corny? Chet, you betcha. Nonetheless, my whole goal with this list is "Carpe Diem" basically in that I'm trying to enjoy every moment of life (especially those where I'm not sick) and at the same time to try to pass that along to others. This was my way of trying to do that yet again. I just let my words pour out so they could be washed away by the tide.

I sealed the lid shut and snuck the bottle onto the beach (NO LITTER!)... actually, I kind of smuggled it in Mom's purse. When the time came, Mom grabbed the camera and I took the bottle. The wind was blowing so hard I could hardly keep my eyes open. Sand was whipping along the ground, scourging my feet and leaving little miniscule scrapes that itched for a few hours afterward. Nonetheless, I trudged on toward the water. I tried to avoid getting wet since my jeans were the only semi-nice pants I had with me, but they still got a little damp from the foamy remnants of the waves that lapped up against my ankles.

I wanted to keep the bottle close enough to shore that someone would be able to find it but not so close that it would come right back to me on a rolling wave and get stuck in the sandbank. I gave it a moderate-powered throw which worked perfectly as it managed to push against the wind and catch a wave maybe 20 feet out. I watched as my message surfed the waves, pushing back against nature, The wind pushed it west of me and I watched it until it was a little speck on the distant lefthand edge of my sightline. I never saw it again.

I don't know where that bottle ended up. I don't know if anyone found it, or if they even took the time to read it instead of just throwing it out.. I don't know if it dissolved in the salty water and the papers were carried off until the fibers broke apart and my words were lost at sea. I'll never know what happened to that message, but I can only hope someone read it and that it influenced them in some minor positive way. For the rest of my life, I can wonder what happened to it, who received it if anyone at all, and while that would bother most people, I like that feeling. In this definite world where there is a place for everything and everything has its place, there is now one little detail that is eternally indefinite, about which I can forever ponder, forever wonder, forever dream...