Katie Slocum grabbed a copy of Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder from a Little Free Library in Northwest Washington, D.C., around 2024, put it on her shelf, and forgot about it. When the 36-year-old finally flipped through the novel earlier this year, something slid out that had been waiting longer than the book had. As The Washington Post reported, it was a handwritten letter dated August 2003, written in cursive on floral stationery and addressed to “My dearest Jackie.” The letter was from a grandmother, name unknown, to a granddaughter she clearly adored. It recalled the girl’s childhood performances for the family and described the teenager she’d become as someone who could “bubble and sparkle like a rare vintage champagne.” “Instantly, I knew it was something special,” Slocum, a program manager at American University, told the Post. With nothing to go on but a first name, she posted the letter’s details to local forums in late February and reached out to Dan Silverman, who runs the neighborhood blog PoPville. “Besides the fact that I wanted to make sure that Jackie got this wonderful letter that her grandmother wrote her, I also just wanted to meet her,” Slocum told CBC Radio. A woman writes a letter at her desk. Photo credit: Igor Vershinksy via Canva It took one day. Jacqueline Roche was scrolling when PoPville’s callout stopped her cold. The cursive was unmistakable. “I knew right away that was my letter,” Roche said. “I was so shocked.” She messaged the blog immediately, and Silverman posted the update: “We Found Jackie!!” The letter, it turned out, was a gift from Roche’s paternal grandmother for her sweet 16, presented at a big party at a catering hall in Bergen County, New Jersey, where Roche grew up. Per tradition, she named 16 important people in her life and lit a candle for each. Her grandmother, Irene Roche, helped light one of the last ones. The letter traveled with Jackie for years afterward until she moved out of the D.C. neighborhood in 2022 and, as she told the CBC, apparently donated the book without realizing the letter was inside. She never even knew it was missing. A woman peruses a used bookstore. Photo credit: M_a_y_a via Canva Irene Roche, who recently turned 90, grew up in the Bronx, raised two children, and worked as a bookkeeper into her 70s. She was the first person to take Jackie across the Hudson to New York City and brought her to her first Broadway show in elementary school. According to the Post, the resurfaced letter has been a hit at Irene’s senior community, where it’s the rare piece of news that isn’t about a friend’s illness. The two women met in Mount Pleasant the following weekend to hand the letter over, and the exchange turned into a long conversation about the neighborhood they’d both called home. The ripples kept going from there. According to Little Free Library’s blog, Jackie and Irene, who used to catch up every few weeks, now talk more often, trading memories like the time they went dancing in Atlantic City for Jackie’s 21st birthday. A Little Free Library filled with books. Photo credit: ImagineGolf via Canva Which is fitting because Irene saw it coming 23 years ago. Whatever life handed her granddaughter, she wrote, Jackie would take it “with both hands and keep on dancing.” The post She was scrolling a D.C. blog and saw her grandma’s handwriting. The lost letter was addressed to her. appeared first on Upworthy.