A little girl from Chapel Hill, Tenn. tied a note to her great-grandma on a balloon and sent it into the sky in hopes that it would reach her in heaven, and months later, received a surprising response, KLTV reports.
"I really do miss her, because she was my favoritest grandmother ever," eight-year-old Bella Hosford told the local news station of her great-grandmother, Minie Sue Watts, who died in August 2012. "The last day I got to see her, it was a really special day to me, because I knew that she was going to go to Heaven. Whenever I hugged her, the last thing she ever said to me was, 'I love you, Bella.'"
A year later, Bella got the idea to tie a note to a balloon, which read, "Tell Mawmaw I love her," and send it floating into the sky. Months passed and life went on as always, until on Monday, Dec. 16, a small box arrived in the Hosford family mail. The box contained a special gift, including a locket and the note that Bella had sent with something written on the back.
"When you open it and you see this brown satin envelope, and then you open it up and you see the locket with a balloon, and then it all hit you," Bella's mother, Tricia Hosford, told KLTV. "We stood at the end of the driveway for probably five, 10 minutes, just crying and embracing and just absorbing the moment."
"Dearest Bella," Tricia said, reading from the note. "Mawmaw is always with you. Just close your eyes and you will see her. Love, your guardian angel."
As the Hosfords live in a very rural part of Marshall County, the chances of someone finding the note are astonishingly rare.
"I thought that it had to be from Mawmaw," Bella said. "If I knew who that person was, I would walk up to them and hug them on their neck and tell them thank you."
Added Tricia, "It was a very selfless act, especially at this time of the year, that is worth volumes."
Bella plans to wear the locket to school, though worries she might lose it, as it is currently her most prized possession.
