With the cool sea air, Sarah was tightly holding the glass champagne bottle, determined not to let her cold hands drop it. Unusually, the bottle was empty. It was washed and dried, and the cork had been jammed back in to seal it back up.
Rattling around inside the green glass was a small rolled up hand written note. Peering through the green glass, my signature could vaguely be seen scrawled across the paper. The waves crashed over the rocks and the breakwater. This was just the spot; Lands End, in March, with gloves and hats and a message in a bottle.
Hmmm, perhaps I should jump back and explain some of this before we move on…
This all began on the 24th of Feb 2008, our first anniversary. We decided that we would stick to the ‘traditional gift list’ for anniversary presents; year one was “paper”.
As you have probably guessed, I thought I’d try something a little different, a twist on the “paper” theme. And so, I presented Sarah with an envelope, a hand written rolled up note and a bottle of French champagne.
The instructions were simple;
1) The champagne must be drunk (easy).
2) The rolled up note placed inside the empty bottle and sealed.
3) she is not allowed to open the envelope until the message in the bottle is found.
4) The bottle must be tossed into the ocean.
So here we were, 1 year later, celebrating our 2nd anniversary with a message in a bottle sitting between us.
We had chosen this spot specifically as the place most likely to take the bottle almost anywhere. The tide was going out, and the swell was small… perfect condtions to take the bottle out to open water.
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Zoom out, and I’m sure you will see what we mean – there is nothing between the bottle and absolute freedom in the open ocean.
The wind was a little chilly down here, so it was time for the brief walk out along the breakwater… As I reached the end, I stood for a moment, gave the bottle a sentimental kiss goodbye and hurled it into the water. I stood watching it for 20 – 30 seconds… it was bobbing up and down motionless in the water, motionless. The waves moved under it, and it sat, just waiting for its journey to start.
And with that I turned down tail, and shuffled back down the breakwater, scrambled up the rocks and back to the arms of Sarah.
We turned and looked, but the bottle was simple too small and insignificant to be seen – that was the first moment when we started to wonder…. and with that thought the bottles journey had officially started.
And at that moment, Schrödinger’s thought experiment became a very real reality for our household.
Hmmm, perhaps I should own up… this was designed as more of a psychological experiment that a straight present… This whole thing had began while reading scientific papers and the story of Schrödinger’s cat came up again. If your not familiar with it, it’s not really important, the underlying principle revolves around the concept that ‘the unknown’ can exist in any number of states right up until the moment you check for yourself to see exactly what state it is actually in.
And so that sparked an idea. Why just give ‘paper’ when I could give an anniversary present of hope… dreams… ideas…
So, it’s been a few days, long enough for anything to be possible.
And right now;
the bottle is sitting on a beach, meters from where it was thrown in, waiting to be found.
that same bottle is floating across the oceans to America or France.
it is still where it landed bopping up and down, it has already been found and we are just waiting to hear from the finder, it has sunk or crashed against the rocks, it is caught in a fishing net waiting to be discovered with tonight’s catch or a sea turtle is helping it on it’s way to Spain.
Right now, in our minds, that bottle is in a mixed state of all of the possibilities… not one confirmed result but a mixture of everything we can both imagine.
And right now, Sarah is in the middle of the waiting game.
Actually, the ‘hoping game’ is a better description.
And all the while, hiding, is a small white envelope with ‘To my darling wife…’ hand drawn on the front in delicate pencil lines…
It might be today, tomorrow, or in years to come that the simple envelope is opened.
And until then, Sarah just gets to imagine what may be inside, and where her bottle may be waiting.
