Childhood Pals Reconnect After Message Bobs Along River for 21 Years

A mushroom hunter found a film canister containing two drawings and a letter written in 1994 by two Lansing 12-year-olds. (Screenshot via WILX-TV)

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An Ohio man searching for some Michigan mushrooms Monday found something even more elusive: A message and drawings sealed in a film canister that’s been bobbing along the Grand River for about 21 years.

Terry Smith, who was visiting in the Ionia area, told WILX-TV that he was surprised by what he found folded and tucked inside the film case: drawings and a note written by two 12-year-old girls from Lansing in 1994, addressed to whoever might find it.

The container made its way 35 miles down river, and the paper inside was water-stained and damp, but otherwise legible and in good condition, Smith said.

“You never know what you’re going to find in something like that; and, this was quite a surprise,” he said. “I couldn’t believe that it lasted this long.”

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WILX tracked down one of the girls who had written the note, signed Angela and Leah, and now the childhood friends have reconnected.

Leah Sedelmaier told WILX she doesn’t recall specifically what prompted Angela and her to write the note, “but I totally believe we would’ve done something like that,” she said.

She and Angela, her friend through high school, are trying to remember what caused them to drop the note in the neighborhood creek where they played as girls. If Angela remembers, “that would be neat,” Sedelmaier said.

The message says the girls are twins, but they’re not, Sedelmaier said. She and Angela share the same birthday, so they used to tell people they were twins.