Finding a message in a bottle is fun!

It’s also extremely addicting.  And when I’m landlocked and working, and my mind wanders back to the beach, and to bottles shining in sunlight–

I start getting a little batty!  The unopened bottles in my home become the tell-tale hearts of my life, always pulsing in their cardboard box, hijacking my concentration.  I stare at them and want to open them and yes, yes, their time will come!

But I have to be extremely careful.  The papers inside are the only links I have to the senders, soon to be (hopefully!) my friends.  Each one is priceless, each brittle paper.  So I wait until the time is right for each bottle, wait till I have time and a quiet day stretching out before me, when I can gather the tools and supplies I need.  And then, the bottles know: there is no escape!