So, you’re probably wondering why a bottle on the cover? At first the idea was more of a nostalgic one, reflecting on all that we have done with Seaside Magazine and attempting to capture all of its contents in a bottle. So many words have been written, and so many stories have been gathered over the past years.
I had my photographer, Jo-Ann Way, shoot the idea a couple of months ago but it wasn’t until now that it seemed fitting. A few weeks ago, my mother suddenly passed away and I only got to say a few words to her by phone beforehand. Then it all made sense: what words I would have said to her for the very last time, locked up until we meet again.
The idea behind a message in a bottle certainly isn’t new: it stems back as far as 310 BC when the first bottle was released by Greek philosopher Theophrastus. It is thought that Theophrastus was conducting an experiment using water currents to prove that the Mediterranean Sea was formed by the Atlantic Ocean.
Messages in bottles have been used in more recent times too. In 2005, a group of migrants shipwrecked off the coast of Costa Rica sent a cry for help by enclosing a message in a bottle. They managed to tie the bottle to a long line on a fishing boat as it passed. The bottle was retrieved and the people were rescued. There is also something undeniably romantic about tossing a message into the ocean and seeing to whom fate would send it.
Then there are the sad farewells. Here is to our mom, and our message in a bottle:
Mom
The day you died I kissed your face
After you died I held you close to me
I knew it would be the last time
I held you for the rest of my life
You were so sick, in so much pain
That is no life
I know you were afraid to die
I hope you have found comfort and peace
Do you remember how I held your hand and lay my head on your shoulder
Even at that moment I couldn’t imagine life without you
People talk about broken hearts in songs or movies
Until that moment I had never known a true broken heart
Over and over I thought “How can I live without you?”
I watched you live, I watched you die
Every day I look up at the sky
I know you’re with dad dancing and laughing but
I miss you so much
I love you till I see you again
You are forever in my heart and mind!
~ Anonymous
From rescue pleas and sad farewells to random notes … what would your message
in a bottle be?
