Florida man finds message in a bottle about young lost friend

INDIATLANTIC, Fla. - Someone, somewhere, wrote a heartfelt message on a piece of loose leaf paper to a friend he lost and put it in a bottle where it drifted, eventually making its way to a Florida beach.

That bottle was picked up by a man named Steve Mershon on Indian Harbor Beach, on the Sunshine State's east coast last week.

The sender, it appears, was a youngster named Jonothan Torres, and the heartwrenching letter was a story of a young best friendship that ended too soon. "Dear Daniel," it reads. "I'm relly (sic) sorry that you pass away and if you were alive Me and you will be playing football, soccer, and basketball," Jonothan wrote. "I am in the fifth grade and you were my best freind (sic) and our favorite song was Austin Moon and I hope you fun with Jesus."

After finding it on the beach, Mershon took photos of the bottle and the letter and posted them on Facebook with the hopes of finding its sender. As of Friday, the post had been shared hundreds of times. "First of all, let me tell you what a strong little man you are for writing your best friend that letter.." he posted. "You show so much love in your heart way beyond your years..Daniel is a lucky guy to have you as a best friend..I'm so sorry he passed," Mershon wrote.

Mershon often finds things on the beach that he keeps, from wood and shells to sunglasses and bottles. But Mershon said he doesn't plan on keeping this one. Instead, he's going to take it with him on his cruise in about a week, where he plans to share the letter with the ocean, and hopefully someone else in the world, once more.

"I'm going to add my own little letter to it, Jonothan, and put the cork back in it, and when I find the deepest, prettiest, most blue water I can find, I'm going to throw it back in..So someone else, along with their friends, can see the love in your heart," Mershon wrote on Facebook.

Mershon hopes that Jonothan will not only get word that his letter has been found, he hopes Jonothan will get to see how many lives it touched along its journey through the ocean.

Here is the post: