A nine-year-old boy found a message in a bottle while exploring a wooded beach of a small lake island on a family vacation - and then realized it was addressed to his grandfather . Nolan Rogers had been on a fishing trip with his family on Lake Murray in South Carolina . His mother , Viki Garrick noticed her childrens ' attention waning and stopped at a small island to explore . That 's when Nolan came across a screw-top Dr Pepper bottle with a rolled-up letter inside sitting next to a log . Scroll down for video . Nolan Rogers was exploring a remote island in South Carolina 's Lake Murray when he spotted the screw-top glass bottle with a letter inside . When Nolan 's mother Viki Garrick read the letter , she immediately recognized her friend Diane Bryant 's ( left ) handwriting . The letter was written to Nolan 's grandfather , Mike Rogers ( right ) Nolan imagined it was a 'note from the pirates or something ' , and showed his parents who read the note first , according to The Slate . Garrick and her husband could only make out a few words on the yellowed paper towel , but were able to make out , ' I wish I could see you ... I love you so much ... I love you , Diane ' . They could n't read who the letter was addressed to , but noticed the name started with the letter 'M ' . Garrick recognized the signature from an old friend of hers and immediately sent a picture of the letter to her friend Diane Bryant , who responded by saying she knew 'exactly where that came from ' . In 1970 , when Bryant , who 's now 58 , was about 13 years old , she was on an overnight church gathering on Lake Murray . The letter , found in the bottle pictured , had faded , but Garrick could read , ' I wish I could see you ... I love you so much ... I love you , Diane . Bryant ( left ) hoped that Rogers , righty , would find the letter when he was on vacation with his family later in the summer of 1970 . He did n't discover the letter for another 45 years . She was missing her then-boyfriend , Mike Rogers , who was n't allowed on the trip because he had gotten in some kind of trouble at the time . The couple had dated on and off when they were teenagers . 'He had long hair . And my dad did not like him , so therefore , I liked him , ' Bryant told The Slate . ' I was his church girlfriend . I knew he had other girlfriends . ' She said that as a 13-year-old , she was 'devastated ' that Rogers could n't come on the trip . So she wrote a love note - as the couple often did - and stuffed it in a bottle before tossing it in a lake , hoping Mike would find it later in the summer when he vacationed with his family , according to ABC . 'With my whole heart , I just knew one day he would find it , ' Bryant said . ' I 've thought about it through the years , thinking , `` I wonder if anyone ever found that bottle ? '' ' Bryant and Rogers remain friends to this day , though they are no longer romantically involved . They both married different people . And 45 years later , Rogers did find it . Nolan led him , now 58 , to the spot where he found the bottle , and his grandfather joked that he finally 'got it ' . He had a good laugh and told ABC that it was fun to reminisce about the 'good old times ' . 'The more you think about it , the more it blows your mind , ' Rogers told The Slate . 'There 's got to be some more meaning to this . ' Bryant agreed , saying she did n't know what 'the hidden message ' was . Though the pair remained friends over the years , they decided they 'would have killed each other a long time ago ' , Bryant said . She and her husband Ron have been married for nearly 40 years . Ron was on the same church trip as Bryant the day she wrote her love letter to Rogers . Rogers is also married with children and grandchildren .
Nolan Rogers found the letter while fishing with his family on Lake Murray in South Carolina . His mother quickly recognized the handwriting as her friend Diane Bryant 's . Bryant wrote the letter to Nolan 's grandfather in 1970 when both she and Mike Rogers were 13 years old . Bryant and Rogers remained friends after they dated in the '70s , though both married different people .