No one knew the postcard was lost until it landed in a mailbox 26 years later.
A father sent the Hong Kong memento to his family in 1993 and assumed they received it. His children, living in Springfield, Illinois, at the time, didn’t know it had been sent so they didn’t miss it.
But on July 8, the home’s new owner, Kim Draper, found a seemingly random card in her mailbox postmarked more that two decades ago.
The State Journal-Register published the story of Draper and her mystery missive and it didn’t take long for the tale to go global.
The card was addressed to Leena and Mohammad Ali Kizilbash and sent by their father, Masrour Kizilbash, reports the State Journal-Register. He was in Hong Kong for business.
Friends and strangers joined the hunt and sent Draper leads, including a phone number for Mohammad Kizilbash, now a cardiologist near Chicago, the State Journal-Register reports.
She called him and “he seemed really excited,” Draper told the newspaper. “They seem like awesome people, I look forward to meeting them.”
The State Journal-Register contacted Masrour Kizilbash, the father who sent the card in 1993.
Learning that the postcard arrived 26 years late “was a big surprise,” Masrour told the newspaper. “I thought my family got it.”
“I was fascinated with the area, so I wanted to share these experiences with my kids and my wife,” Masrour told the State Journal-Register.
Read the full story at the State Journal-Register.
