Man gets emotional surprise when notes from his late parents arrive 26 years later
A California Man was left stunned this week after a postcard mailed by his parents more than two and a half decades ago finally turned up in his mailbox, years after both of them had passed away.
Bob Shepphard, from Long Beach, told local outlet ABC7 that he almost dismissed the delivery as junk mail before realizing what he was actually holding.
The card, sent from Copenhagen, Denmark, had somehow been stuck in the postal system since the year 2000.
The card was signed 'M&D', with a brief line about the view from the couple's flight into Denmark.
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"I just started looking at it and go, 'Oh my gosh. This is a treasure!'" Bob said, adding it was the only item waiting for him in his postbox.
Bob's mail carrier suggests the item had likely slipped out of a sorting bin or basket at some point after it was sent, possibly landing behind a desk of a filing cabinet where it sat forgotten for over two decades.
He speculated that whoever eventually found it recognised Bob still lived at the same address and decided to send it on its way.
The envelope was postmarked in Los Angeles this past August, despite originally being stamped in July 2000.
By the time it reached him, Bob's parents have sadly both passed.
His mother, Joanne, passed away four years ago, while his father, John, an Army veteran died six year's ago during the pandemic.
Tragically, Covid restrictions at the time meant that he was never able to say goodbye to his dad.
He said that 'it still haunts him to this day'.
What did Bob Sheppard's parents write to him?
The message in the postcard was short but sweet, and it certainly struck a nerve with Bob as he read it aloud for reporters.
"Flying in, we saw lots of water and green, green land everywhere. Love, M&D," which Bob explained stood for mum and dad.
Bob described his father as an intelligent, caring and loving man, and remembered his mother as a schoolteacher who loved to travel, calling her a ‘social butterfly.’
Exploring the world together was clearly a passion of theirs.
Bob has since put together a memory board covered in passport pages and photographs charting years of trips, which he originally created for his parents' celebration of life.
Among the destinations pictured are Easter Island, the Galápagos Islands and various parts of Africa, including one photo of his mother on a boat. He also keeps a written log documenting everywhere his parents traveled, including their trip to Denmark, where they picked out the now-infamous postcard, wrote their note, and dropped it in the mail all those years ago.
Despite the lengthy delay, Bob said he has chosen to see the arrival of the postcard as something meaningful rather than a badly organised post office.
"This was, to me, almost a postcard from heaven," he said.
Topics: Travel, US News, California
Thomas Bamford