Message in a Bottle

I stood on the shore in North Africa staring at the vastness of the Mediterranean, the vastness of this side of the world, and wondering if my son could “see” me. 

Wondering if he could hear me. 🤔

Wondering what part he may have played in my being there.  🤔

I wanted to offer a tribute to him and I wanted to "properly" mark the second year of him being gone. 💔💔

Well, shit. How does one "properly mark" this type of thing? I don't know, but I wrote. ✏️

I wrote from my heart. ❤️

My Beautiful Conner,

You are one of my three greatest accomplishments in this life, and I miss you every second of every day (so do your sisters).

This place is not as bright without you, but I believe you have moved on to a different place — a place where you are continuing to be compassionate, intelligent, kind and loving.

Forever proud to be your mother.

xo Mom

On the back, I scribbled, Written and sent by Lisa Bovee on November 28, 2018 from Hammamet Beach, Tunisia

Heartbroken Mama Spreading So Much Conner Bovee Love (and gave my email address)

I wrote this note. 📝

I rolled it up. 📜

I placed it inside a glass bottle and tightened the lid. 🍾

I held this bottle wondering if what I was doing was "silly." 😛

I held this bottle wondering how far I could chuck it. (I'm not as young as I used to be!)💪🏼

I held this bottle and cried at this world's loss. 😭😭😭

What I wrote is true: the world is less bright without Conner. 🌚

In addition to that, my world is pretty fucked up. 😡🤬💔

Aside from this being some dramatic attempt at somehow easing some of my pain, I had a great desire to honor my son and his life. 💜

All any bereaved parent wants is that her child is never forgotten. This was another chance I had at spreading some more Conner Love.✨💜✨💜

So...I chucked that god damn bottle as far out as I could.🌊

And that was that. ✅

To be honest, once I threw it, I didn't think much about it again. Days passed. Weeks passed.📆

76 days, in fact, and on February 12, I received the following private message on Facebook 💻

"I do not know if you remember your message...Letter from Hammamet Beach in a bottle on 28 November 2018 written...Found on 5 February 2019 in the beach of Si Ali Libya."

WHAT⁉️

THE⁉️

FUCK⁉️

WHATTHEFUCK? WHATTHEFUCK?😮😮😮

Someone found the bottle⁉️

I was excited. Shocked. Emotional. Wow.

Then, a friend I was with began pointing out some of the possibilities of the things that could have "gone wrong" for this fragile little glass bottle. ⚠️

Things that would have thwarted my attempt at honoring my son and spreading So Much Conner Bovee Love. 🥊

This little glass bottle could've gotten stuck at the bottom of the sea under the sand or under a rock, never to be seen by another human. 🚫

This little glass bottle could've crashed onto a bed of rocks and shattered, leaving the paper inside to disintegrate as if it had never existed. ❌

But, instead....this little glass bottle made its way to the shore of a beach in Libya! (yes, Libya). 🌊🌊🌎 🌍

This little glass bottle glistened in the sun and gave someone hope! Hope that they would become rich with the contents of the bottle. (true story) ✨🌞✨🌞✨

But, instead...this little glass bottle made me rich. This little glass bottle made my heart rich with even more love for this world and the people in it. 💜 🌏

This is my story and this is the story of one little glass bottle. One little glass bottle that held So Much Conner Bovee Love and spread it across the Mediterranean Sea.