Marrowstone Island resident Laurel Burik is often surprised and saddened by the volume of trash she sees on her beach walks.

She received even more of a surprise – and her emotions were quite the opposite of sadness – when one of those pieces of “trash” she picked up turned out to be a message in a bottle.

“I could not believe it,” Burik said. “It was so magical.”

A BEAUTIFUL MIND

Burik was walking her dog on the beach of neighboring Indian Island on March 30. Her hands and arms were quite full with two large rocks – one that was heart shaped (looking back, she said, finding that rock before the bottle was providential) – and her jacket, as it was a sunny day.

Then, she came across a small bottle in the sand. Worried it might break and hurt someone, she picked it up to add to her already full hands.

Turns out, this was treasure, not trash.

“This has never happened to me,” she said. “It seems pretty special to find a message in a bottle.

Burik said it took her a moment to take off the bottle’s cap. Inside was a note reading, “I’m in love with a beautiful mind,” and signed with names that look like “Axel” and initials that could be “JM.”

“It would be really cool if these people saw the note (in The Leader),” said Burik. “I hope it’s someone local.”

Anyone who knows anything about the note is invited to contact The Leader at news@ptleader.com “My hope is to get this story out so hopefully one or the other (or both) of the people in the note can claim the message in the bottle,” Burik said. She also said she might be willing to give them the heart-shaped rock.