This morning I received an email from Fiona Brady and Carl Mehling. 25 years ago, they had been married for 15 days and were honeymooning in Nova Scotia.
Fiona had a journal that she used to document planning her wedding, her wedding vows, photos and personal notes.
She used the phone booth at McDonalds in Port Hawkesbury and thought she may have left the priceless book in the phone booth. 150 miles later, she realized. She called McDonalds, spoke to the manager & put classifieds in the paper with no luck.
On 12 July 1999, after getting back home, they called this radio station (at that point, we were called 1410 CIGO) asking if we could put her story on air. 20 minutes later, the journal had been found!
The journal with an audio recording of the calls was sent to the newlyweds.
I’ve included Fiona’s email and the audio recordings below – it is such an incredible story.
(the couple are back in the area, celebrating their anniversary – welcome back, guys!)
Twenty-five years ago this week, my husband and I got married…in New York City, our home town. We flew to Halifax to start our honeymoon, with no more planned than a rental car and the intention to see as much natural beauty as possible. Mission accomplished, and then some!
On our last full day in Canada, I realized I’d lost my journal, which held months of notes from our life and travels, as well as the only copy of our wedding vows.
We’d driven half the length of Nova Scotia before I figured out that I’d put the journal on top of a pay phone (remember those?) while calling home two days earlier.
We retraced our steps, but it was gone.
Fast forward to the following Monday morning, back in Brooklyn. I think, “let’s call our favorite radio station”–we listened to CIGO throughout our trip–“and make a plea.”
I hadn’t realized I was speaking with Frank, the on-air DJ, and babbled out our sad tale. In sympathy, he put out a call to the whole listening audience and wished us well.
That was so nice, but we figured it was a total shot in the dark. Maybe 20 minutes later, we’re about to head off to work and the phone rings…
It’s Frank! “We have your wedding journal!”
Holy Moly!
A woman who happened to be listening said her friend had seen it lying on the roadside and picked it up. And she was kind enough not only to call, but to bring the book to the station.*
Frank mailed it to us with a CIGO t-shirt and–an incredible surprise!–the audio recording of all three phone calls!
I recently unearthed the cassette, found a tape player (no easy task in 2024!), and we listened again for the first time in 25 years. Such a great memory! Such great people! So VERY Nova Scotia!
Anyway, we’re back! Our third time here. Honeymoon 3.0, and as wonderful as ever!
We brought along the journal and the recording, for old time’s sake. We’ll try not to misplace anything precious this go round.
With our forever thanks to CIGO and all the lovely, welcoming folks up here!
